Saving Bonds of Love
Part 2: "Going *Beep*ing Mad"
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*Inners' car*
"Minako-chan, turn on the music," Makoto said lightly, her arms stretching out in pursuit of a yawn. "I'm boooored."
Ami glanced at her backseat companion, half-teasingly and half with a glare for encroaching upon her side. "You wouldn't be so bored if you'd brought a textbook along."
Makoto looked appalled. "Ami-chan, I'm not going to study! It's our vacation!"
"Doesn't mean our sophomore year isn't right around the corner," Ami mumbled, but her idle threats fell on deaf ears - quite literally - when Minako decided to take Makoto up on her earlier suggestion. She flipped the power switch and with ear-shattering suddenness, engulfed the car in a cacophony of sound and what had to be the very best there was to offer on the death metal station. Everyone covered their ears as insane screaming rose to a crescendo.
"SOMEONE REALLY LIKES BEING TORTURED!" Makoto laughed.
"THAT, OR WE'VE DISCOVERED THE GATEWAY TO HELL!" Rei hollered back. "ALRIGHT MINAKO-CHAN, THAT'S ENOUGH OF THAT!"
"I'm- I'm TRYING!" Minako squeaked.
"TURN. IT. DOWN!" Ami shouted disapprovingly, and despite her hands being tight over her ears, the girl's nose was inches from her textbook - still trying to focus, even through the din.
"I TOLD YOU, I'M TRYING! IT WON'T WORK!" Minako wailed, twisting the volume knob this way and that.
"OH, THAT STUPID YUICHIRO! I SWEAR, I'M GOING TO THROTTLE THAT MAN!" Rei screamed, a nearly palpable fire raging in her eyes. "WHEN I'M THROUGH WITH HIM, HE'S GOING TO SOUND WORSE THAN ALL THESE FREAKS COMBINED!"
Every occupant in the car shifted slightly away.
Best not to find one's self on the receiving end of Rei's wrath, on the off chance that it involved re-enacting what it was like to be burned alive at the stake.
"How he can stand this!?"
"AH, MINAKO-CHAN, MAYBE IF YOU TRIED - I DUNNO - ACTUALLY TURNING IT OFF!" Makoto pointed out, and Minako blushed.
"Oh. Right." She abandoned the volume dial and re-flicked the power, music instantly disappearing. "Sooorry, it's just, my car's radio volume is the same as the power! I freaked out and forgot!"
"Uh huh."
"Really, guys!"
"Minako-chan, we already have one queen ditz. Don't vie for her spot. I don't think I could be your friend anymore," Rei gibed with a smirk, but that soon fled in the opposite direction. "Do you guys... hear that?"
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Steady it went, subsisting on to the verge of insanity.
"My ears are ringing!" Minako whined.
"What the heck is that!?" Rei cried, smacking at her head. "First the radio, now this- I'm going fucking mad!"
"It could be tinnitus - damage to the microscopic endings of nerves in your inner ear after listening to particularly loud music or sounds," Ami answered, ever the wealth of knowledge. "We may have even damaged some of the little hairs of our cochlea."
Makoto dangled Ami's beeping communicator in her face.
"Or it could be your communicator, genius. Found this under the seat."
Ami flushed with heat.
"I suppose it could," she shot back in return, grabbing her device from the brawny girl with as much dignity as she could muster. With obstinately flustered fingers, she snapped open the communicator and instantly Usagi's incarnadine-tinged face fizzled onto the small screen.
"What the heck took so long, I've been trying to reach you forever!" her voice - distorted so as to not be recognized by anyone else but a Senshi - demanded.
"Sorry, Usagi-chan, but we couldn't turn the music down. Yuichiro-san has it set to be blaring," Ami answered, and in the front she heard Rei distinctly mutter something about 'brazen bulls' that made her shiver. She knew that old tradition of punishment. Note to self for the umpteenth time, never ever ever tempt Rei's temper.
"Well, me 'n' ChibiUsa are hungry," Usagi huffed.
"Usagi, you pig! You just ate before we left!" Rei shouted.
"Rei-chan, you meanie! I can't help it if I need to keep my energy up! Being Mamo-chan's assistant is hard work! He relies on me for- shut up, ChibiUsa!"
"Quiet, you two! Or, three!" Ami broke in loudly. The bickerers froze. "Now, we better call Haruka-san and let their little troop know. Otherwise, we'll never get anywhere with this conversation."
*Outers' car*
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
"Haruka-papa, what's that?" Hotaru queried, sitting up straight and perking her ears.
"What's what?" Haruka returned lithely, her gaze turning towards the mirror as she sent a windswept Hotaru one of her world famous grins.
"Something is making a noise," Hotaru clarified, beginning to shuffle through her belongings. "I can't quite tell for sure."
Haruka chuckled, giving Michiru the sideways eye. "Hear that, Michiru? Our little Firefly's got one wild imagination."
Hotaru's face became indignant, and she looked beseechingly to Setsuna. Unfortunately for her, Setsuna was far from able to help. She appeared more green than cogent, with the hue of her pained countenance a very close match to her hair.
"Setsuna-mama? Don't you hear it too?" the Senshi of Saturn asked, a touch desperately.
"Whaaazzat, Hotaru?" Setsuna murmured in a slur, one hand clutching her stomach and the other the upholstery. 80 MPH in a topless race car... if the normally sedentary time guardian didn't have problems with vertigo before, she certainly did now.
"Like... beeping?" Hotaru prompted. Setsuna didn't answer, she was too busy forcing back a rather dangerous sounding gag.
"AM I GOING CRAZY!?" Hotaru cried, pulling wildly at her sheared raven locks.
"Undoubtedly, dear," Michiru sighed. Hotaru scowled and Michiru sighed again, much quieter than before.
"Michiru-mama... are you alright?" Hotaru inquired, her immediate concern chasing away all ghostly noises.
"Haruka's driving getting to you?" Setsuna mumbled, almost incoherently. Michiru shook her head but it was evident to everyone present that her features looked sallow and pale. Hotaru leaned forward, resting a hand on her de facto mother's shoulder.
"What is it?"
"I feel... my connection with the sea stirring. It's… it's calling out to me. Begging, more like. I have this strange sense that something has been... forced into its depths that it does not welcome," Michiru struggled to describe. Hotaru raised her eyebrows, trying to imagine the possibilities, while Haruka waved away her partner's premonition with a soothing chuckle.
"Probably just more junk- garbage- you know, pollution." She shook her head, trying to make light of the situation even though she herself was unnerved. "Too much of it these days."
Michiru frowned, curling the fingers in her lap into a fist. "This is different. This didn't feel right."
"Aha!"
All faces turned to Hotaru, who triumphantly reached into Haruka's pocket.
"Hey! Watch where you're digging, little one!"
The girl came back with Haruka's communicator, symbol flashing an ornery gold in time to the beep! beep! beep! that had Hotaru positively smug.
"I'm not crazy! Ha!"
"You know that's wonderful, Hotaru, that just really peachy," Haruka replied with barely restrained sarcasm. Hotaru stuck her tongue out at Haruka and tossed her the device. Haruka flipped the clasp and Rei's voice filled the car at once.
"What the hell, Haruka-san! What've you been doing for the last six minutes!?"
"None of us heard the beeping," Haruka shrugged, ignoring the snort of her youngest companion.
"Well, Usagi the pig and her mini-me of a daughter are ravenous," Rei drawled, and the others didn't even have to see her picture to know there was serious eye rolling going on.
"Did they eat poor Mamoru-san yet?" Haruka laughed.
"Unless Usagi's driving..." Rei quipped in return. "Anyways, we agreed to talk it over with the other car-"
"I'm hungry!" Usagi chirped as she hopped onto the frequency.
"Aaaaand speak of the devil," Rei muttered.
"Haruka-san, can we stop somewhere?" Usagi implored the sandy blonde. "Pleeeease? I'm so hungry."
"Me too, me too!" ChibiUsa's tinny voice echoed in the background.
"So I've heard. Alright, I guess we'll make our first pit stop. I need a top off on my gas anyway," Haruka acceded. "Next exit, everyone?"
There was a ubiquitous chorus of assent and within half an hour, all were comfortably sated (or, in the case of others, still chowing down), back on the road and halfway to their long awaited destination.
*Inners' car*
"Do you even take a breath between bites?" Rei inquired, eyebrow quirked in fascination as Minako scarfed chip bag after chip bag down her bottomless hole.
"O'courfse I dwo," she answered around partially digested snacks, and Rei choked out a noise of sickened disgust.
"Really, Minako-chan, I don't want to look at your food while you talk!"
Minako gave a great swallow. "Anyways, I need consolation food. That old guy was freaking me out back there! Talk about getting lecherous with age!"
Makoto rolled her eyes in the backseat. "He was not checking you out, Minako-chan."
"Oh, really? You didn't see the looks I was getting! I am the Goddess of Love, aren't I?"
"Minako-chan, Mako-chan's right. You're overreacting. I know all about lecherous old men - I live with one, remember? Believe me, he wasn't checking you out," Rei said firmly.
"He was toooooo!" Minako pouted, hand that wasn't on the wheel grappling about until it found the last chip bag.
Rei bestowed her friend with an odd look. "Are you saying you wanted him to?"
"What!? NO! Of course not!" Minako shrieked, putting on a highly affronted visage. "What do you think I am, some pervert!?"
The other Senshi whistled innocently and found very interesting things to watch out the window.
"Don't answer that," the lone blonde mumbled.
*Mamoru's car*
"What's with all this traffic!?" Mamoru bemoaned, sticking his head out the window angrily. "We didn't have this problem earlier - what's the hold up?"
Usagi was picking at a spot on her skirt, hardly paying attention as she thought very hard about how to be the best driving assistant ever for Mamoru. "I dunno, Muffin," she sighed dreamily. Maybe lots of kisses were needed. For positive reinforcement.
"It's not even rush hour!" Mamoru grumped.
ChibiUsa mimicked her father, only she figured it would be much easier to gauge their position from the sun roof. From her vantage point, the traffic seemed to go on and on, farther than her eye could see. The child pivoted and observed Yuichiro's car behind them, so close to their own bumper it was probably illegal - but that just went to show what a superb driver Minako was. If ChibiUsa squinted, she could make out the Inners, and every girl was pretty pissed. She could also hear Haruka expressing her distaste for the situation, in a verbal rampage laced heavily with expletives.
The youngest Senshi chuckled. She doubted Haruka would ever change - not that she wanted her to, either.
"CHIBIUSA! I. Said. Sit!"
"Yes, mother dearest."
"Don't backtalk me!"
"Yes, mother dearest."
*Inners' car*
"Traffic is soooo stupid," Minako moaned, tapping her fingers impatiently on the steering wheel. She took a couple moments to spy on the activities of her comrades. Rei was staring daggers out the window, no doubt pondering the best way to strike mortal terror in the heart of one Yuichiro Kumada. Makoto was also lost in her respective window, no doubt pondering what life would've been like had the upperclassman never broken her heart. Minako sighed. Oh, that upperclassman.
"It is rather boring," Ami spoke up from the backseat, no doubt still buried in The Laws of Physics.
"Speak for yourself, Ami-chan!"
*Outers' car*
"Traffic should be outlawed!" Haruka grunted gruffly. Her hands were tense against the wheel and her eyes burned a hellacious path through the cars in front of her, steamed at the fact that they seemed to extend up the hill and on into infinity.
"I disagree. When you're driving, it's a necessity," Setsuna countered pleasantly. She looked spry as can be at the sudden turn in events, smiling at every passerby and waving to annoyed children in accompanying cars. There was the occasional inching forward of the mass jam, but other than that movement was practically stagnant. Setsuna relished in the opportunity for recovery it allowed her. The other occupants were taking the unexpected halt in stride as well. Michiru had decided to take a nap and Hotaru was reading up on lamps she wanted to add to her collection.
The car was relatively quiescent for a few minutes, save for some severely heavy breathing on Haruka's part.
And then, the spark in the gun barrel.
Hotaru threw down her book, squirming uncomfortably in her seat. "I'm hot! And I have to go to the bathroom! Couldn't you do anything to make them go faster, Haruka-papa?"
"Hotaru, that's not a very good-" Setsuna began in warning, but she was cut off by Haruka and her fanatical, stir-crazy laden eyes.
"You know what, Hotaru, you're right! You're absolutely right! We shouldn't be sitting here like this; there's no reason for it... I'm gonna give these jerks a piece of my mind! HEY! HEY, YOU SLOW MOVING PIECES OF SHIT! MOVE!" she screamed, laying it down hard on the horn.
Michiru jolted awake. "What the- Haruka…!"
The sandy blonde paid her no mind, pounding away.
"FUCKING IDIOTS! DON'T CONFORM! DON'T- Hello, officer."
