Flora’s Bell - without pretentiousness

She watched as the water rained on the school flowers from the watering can leaving behind crystal-like droplets and damp soil. The teachers didn't need any help with grading papers or checking attendance so Kohana decided to do her daily afterschool chore of watering the flowers in the courtyard. The brunette loved taking care plants even though she did it all the time at home where she lived above the family flower shop with the rest of the Amarante family. It always made her feel content and accomplished but today it served another pupose. Kohana reached back behind her head and fingered the pink, rosebud barrette that rested on the based of her low ponytail.

It had only been a week since that fateday she was chosen to be Sailor Gaia and it was all so surreal to her. Ever so often she would touch the little barrette to remind herself that it all wasn't a dream, that what happened at the shopping district had really happened. The thought she'll have to fight monsters like the one before and more frightened her to no end. And those, um, spells really drain her and made her so dizzy that she almost got sick. Whats worse is that her little borther Hikaru is involved putting him in the middle of the all the danger. Above it all, why her?

It didn't make any sense to Kohana on why Mother Eath chose her to be her Scout. Sure she had a lot of respect for green things and she loved helping people but that was all she had. She was no warrior by any means for she hated violence. She wasn't strong or brave or important. She just a plain, adverage girl that is weak and is scared of of even raising her hand in class to answer a simple question. Why would Earth herself chose her of all people? There had to be someone else that could fight the bill better than she could and would most definiately do better job than her. In any case Kohana knew that there was no use fighting it. What's done is done and she kew deep down that there was no escaping this fate that had been placed upon her.

With a long sigh the high school student continued her work of watering the flowers as well as checking them for any discoloration and weeds. Soon she made her way to one of the rose bushes that was in full bloom. Their light orange petals looked like ruffled silk and their beauty made the droplets now look like tiny diamonds. To her it was as if she were gazing at well-made oil painting and she took a moment to admire them. Then she notice a rosebud in the middle of them that had yet to bloom. With a small smile Kohana lend in to get a closer look. "Oh I hope you bloom soon little." She whispered, "I bet you'll be as beautiful as everone else." Then she gave it a kiss for luck and started chanting 'I love you, I love you, I love you...' in her head. Then she went on with her watering humming Beethoven's Love Story.

"You really like flowers don't you," a girl behind her spoke. Aris knelt down next to her, and lightly lifted the small rose bud with her hand to get a closer look. "This one will be lovely, I'm sure of it. I'm Aris by the way. I see you here a lot so...I thought I'd come say hi." Aris pushed her blond hair out of her face, her yellow eyes bright in the afternoon light. "I hope you don't mind." She smiled at her.

Kohana nearly jumped when she heard the girl's voice. It was like she came out of no where but, then again Kohana was lost in thought and wasn't really paying attention to her surroundings. This girl, Aris, was very cute girl with blonde hair, matching eyes, and a bubbly smile. She was like a human version of sunshine. A someone that Kohana liked to call a "bright and likable" person. And she was here wanting talking to HER! Kohana began to feel nervous and flushered.

'No, no, no don't start acting werid now!! This is your chance to become more likable!' Kohana mentally scolded herself, 'Now breathe, smile, and introduce yourself properly.'

She looked Astro in the eyes and gave her a polite smile. "No not all." She replied to the girl's last question, "Hello my name is Kohana Amarante and very nice to meet you Aris-san."

She smiled and sat down next to her. "I've noticed that people stay away from you...You seem like a sweet enough girl. Do you know what's up with that?" Aris continued staring at the rosebud. "Ah, forget about them. You know what you are? You're a rosebud." Aris turned to face her. "You're this one right here." She gently caressed the small rosebud, not yet blooming. "You're shy, and scared to come out. But when you do, you'll shine. I bet you'll be as amazing as this one. Shining a brighter color than any of the other rosebuds on campus." Aris stood up and held her hand out to Kohana. "Until you bloom though, you can stick with me and my sister. If you dont' mind of course." Aris continued smiling in her carefree way. not worried about anything but what was going on, being said at that very moment. Not looking ahead, not looking back. Always in the present.

Kohana turned completely red. That was the frist time someone her age had ever complemented her or compared to something like a beautiful flower. Her heart was beating fast and her breath was just about caught in her throat. She felt so honored and so speical that it almost overwelmed her. Like the day she became Sailor Gaia and heard the voice of Mother Earth. Then a sudden thought came to her, maybe that's why couldn't understand yet why Mother Earth chose her to be Sailor Gaia it was like as Aris said, she was like a the flowerbud all closed up and scared to come out to understanding of why things happen. Maybe when the day that that she does bloom everything would make sense to her. For now though she can save those thoughts for another day. She had just made her first friend and she needed to appreciate and treasure it.

Slowly Kohana reached over and curled her fingers around Astro's outstreched hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Of coruse not, that would make me more than happy Aris-san." She said with a wide smile, "Thank you so much!"

Aris smiled. "Would you like to come with me to meet my sister? She's on the other side of the campus, and I was supposed to have lunch with her." Aris pulled Kohana to her feet. "I see you out here every day, you never eat lunch, and you're always alone, she Isis and I packed extra. We both want you to join us." Aris slowly let go of her hand, but still gave her the same warms smile she always had. "I don't want you to be shy, OK? We won't hurt you, plus, we won't force you to do anything you don't want to. We just want nothing more than to be your friend." She turned to go, still watching Kohana. "So, feel free to join us, K?" Still smiling she started walking, but it wasn't dismissive at all, it was almost like she wanted Kohana to join. There was an openness around her, always inviting people in. She was always this nice to people, but never really focused this much attention on one person. Both Aris and Isis really did want Kohana to be their friend. And not because they felt sorry for her, but because they saw through it. They know the true girl beneath the unapproachable mask. And they wanted her anyway.

'Oh my goodness, oh my goodess, oh my goodness...' The words skipped through her head like a strached CD. Not only had she just made a new friend, but she has just been invited to join her for lunch and dine with her sister. All in one day!! It was almost too much for her. When she had finally recovered the use of her voice she called out to Aris's retreating form, "It would be an honor Aris-san! Um, just let me put up the watering can and get my lunch, I'll join you and your sister soon!'' Then she turned around and ran as fast as she could to the school shed.

Kohana felt like she couldn't move fast enough when she reached her classroom where a sakura print furoshiki sack was waiting for her. Inside was her purple, floral 2 tier bento box with matching butterfly designed chopsticks that was one of her back-to-school presents she had gotten from her mother. It contain a menu of rice sprinkled with sesame seeds and sweet tamagoyaki in the first box while the second box consisted of cocktail sausages shaped like octopuses, atsuage tofu with oyster sauce, fried gyoza, and steamhed vegtables. Usually she would have leftovers because she wouldn't have been able to eat it all in one sitting but since she was going to be able to sit with friends maybe she could share it with them. Then the idea gave her another thought. Kohana reached into her backpack and pulled out a medium sized bag filled with homemade suger cookies she baked that all had different colored icing. Normally she would keep these handy for Hi-chan (her little brother) because he was always hungry and had a sweet tooth but she decided that today they served another purpose. They were her gesture of gratitude to Aris and her sister for offering their hand of friendship to her. She hugged the bag and made a silent prayer of thanks to G-d for this experience. With that she grabbed her bento and half ran, half skipped out of the classroom.

Right before she journeyed to the back of the school Kohana checked to see if her appearance was acceptable in through the relfection in a nearby window. After a few finishing touches she peeked around the corner to see Aris and another girl that was supposively her sister talking. She jumped back and took three big breaths to ready calm herself. 'Okay here I go.' She readied herself mentally as she slowly made her entrace to her new friends.

"So...Is Kohana the one that's always in a trance over by the flower bed?" Isis asked her sister.
"She loves flowers, I invited her to sit with us if that's ok?" Aris looked a little concerned. Isis shoved her a little, ruffling her hair.
"Duh, didn't we talk about this last night. Of course she can sit with us." Isis pulled out her chopsticks and began picking at her rice.
"Why do you always get just plain rice? Why can't you just eat the usual rice balls? I thought you liked them..." Aris looked over in the direction of a student approaching them. "Oh, hey! Kohana! Come on over and join us!"
Isis and Aris both smiled at her in welcome.

Kohana saw them greeting and waving at her in a welcoming manner. So far so good. 'Okay you can do this, you can make another good first impression.' She told herself mentally, 'Just remember breathe, smile, introduce yourself, and this time offer them some cookies. Oh I sure hope they like them. Does my hair still look okay? Stop it!! You're freaking yourself out!' The high school student took a deep breath as she walked over to girls.

"Um sorry if I kept you waiting, I tried to hurry here the best I could." She said when reached them. She turned to Aris's sister who looked a lot like her and smiled, "Hello its nice to meet you, My name is Kohana Amarante." Before Kohana forgot she set down her lunch and held out the cookies for them to see. "I also brought some cookies I made at home, would you like to have some?" She offered.

Isis watched the girl, 'she seems a bit nervous,' she thought to herself. "Kohana, just sit down. You're a little to nervous to be just hanging with a couple friends. We wont' bite you don't worry." She smiled.
"Oh my gosh, what kind are they?!" Aris got too exited over the cookies, as she snatched one.
"Aris, don't you think that was a little rude." Isis scolded, Aris looked at her shoes.
"She did offer Isis!" Aris looked at Kohana and laughed. "Don't worry, we're always like this. This is my sister Isis. She is almost obsessed with helping people it isn't even funny."

Kohana was kind of caught off graud by their earlier comments, scared if she made the wrong impression. That was untill they started taking some cookies and giggling up a storm. Their causalness become contagious and compelled her to giggle as well. "I think that its a wonderful trait!" She said about Aris's comment about her sister.

She sat herself between the sisters and handed the bag to Aris. "They're sugar cookies and I made them last night." She said also took few of them and gave them to Isis, "Here you go Isis-san." Then she leaned to picked up her lunch and sat it on her lap. She unwrapped the furoshiki and garbbed her chopsticks. "Itadakimasu." She chimed as she opened the bento boxes revealing the large spread of food. Then she looked at both of the girls and asked kindly, "I seem to have went overbroad this morning making lunch, can you help me finsih it?"

Both Isis and Aris laughed as they revealed their too full lunch boxes to Kohana.
"Seems like we all had the same idea, I'm not sure we'll all be able to finish all of this," Isis laughed. Aris picked something from Kohana's lunchbox.
"So...what is this, by the way." She asked. "See, Isis and I aren't realy from around here, and we don't know much about the food here." SHe smiled again. Isis smiled at her sister and snatched one of her riceballs.
"I'm sure we know enough,. we know how to make this at least." Both girls continued laughing. 'Kohana probably thinks we're insane,' Isis thought to herself.
"You must think we're totally bonkers, huh Kohana?" Aris laughed to herself.

"Oh that's quite alright, in fact its very entertaining." Kohana giggled. She was having so much fun! These sisters were spontanious and funny. It kind of reminded her of home where everything was laid back and lively. She liked her knew friends and she was going to doher best to keep them. "Those are cocktail sauages. I have a habit of trying to make things look cute when I cook hense why they look like octopuses." She explain to Aris as she held the little sauage in question. She popped of one her tofu in her mouth and smile. Somehow the food tasted better with the company. After she swallowed she asked the girls, "If I may ask, where did you two come from?"

Aris and Isis looked at one another and smiled.
I really don't think you'd believe us if we told you," Aris said mischievously.
Isis giggled a little, which seemed strange, and normal at the same time. Aris looked at her questioningly. "We are transfer students from England. We are here to look for some people whom we consider out sisters."
Aris smiled and poked her sister. "You could have at least played along, Isis." She popped one of the little sausages into her mouth. "This is really good Kohana. I'm not used to Japanese foods, we get Chinese all the time, but we have little Koreans attempting to make it, so I bet the flavors off, just a little bit." Aris laughed a little, while her sister just stared at her. "What?"
"You're being a little rude."
"Oh...sorry Kohana." She smiled apologetically.

"It is okay I don't take any offense. Its understandable that things you're not use to can be a little strange I believe that it's the same for eveyone." Kohana reassured her friends. Aris and Iris were becoming more and more interesting. Not only were they very outgoing they also came from a different country! How cool was that. The shy girl ate a few more bites of her lunch thinking about what other wonderful qualities that the twins could have. "So you two came all the way from England, how exciting! Ya'll must be very brave to come a long way on your own." She said interested to know more, "Are you having a good time so far living here? Do you miss home sometimes? What can you tell about England?"

Aris looked over at her sister, wondering how much she could say. Luckily, Isis took over. "Our parents died when we were little, so we had gone to an orphanage, but when we both turned 16 something happened that caused us to have to move here....We are supposed to find someone....Its hard to talk about sometimes because everything is a little foggy, and most of it we have to keep secret..I hope you understand." Aris and Isis both smiled.

Nearby a girl was hiding behind a corner of the building, staring at the trio. 'why are they having so much fun, this is stupid.' she thought. A voice came to her from behind.
"Ayame, you could have fun to you know," The soft voice spoke from behind her. She spun around to see another girl behind her, with long white hair and deep black eyes.
"Mistress Mysteria!" she gasped.
"I'm Lilith here, Ayame, remember that. I want you to sap those girls' energy for me. Can you do that, Ayame?" Ayame nodded, and smirked as her Mistress walked away. The girl with short brown curls held up both hands, touching the black rose on her ring.
"Dark Rose! Transform!" she called out, slowly transforming into a dark Sailor Scout. She walked out from behind the building, laughing. Aris and Isis stood to block Kohana as the girl with a black and rose colored sailor outfit came around the corner, smirking, and laughing menacingly.
"Mistress wants your energy, so you may not want to fight to much, ladies, or it will be useless to us! Though, the game would be fun," she sneered.