Now the five of them, closer than ever, were all huddled around one of the most recent installments of their favorite hangout, the video arcade. The arcade was built shortly after their return to the future. Minako was the first to stumble over it. One step inside and she immediately fell in love with the place. Once she brought in her friends it became their new favorite place to be when they weren’t training, and the place where they spent all of their allowances.

Minako and Usagi were now in the middle of playing a new racing game, something that both of them were known to do whenever a new game came to the arcade. Both of them wanted to have the top scores of all of the games in the place, which usually led to many challenges between to two.

Minako loved the rush of competing for the best spot with Usagi. They were the best gamers in the place and no body could ever beat them, especially with their fast reflexes. "There’s no way you’re going to beat me Usagi! Let’s face it! I’m just too good at this game!"

"I’m going to beat you!" Usagi playfully taunted.

"Nuh-uh!"

Usagi grinned as she saw Minako’s car up ahead of her. They were on their last lap and only had a fourth of the track left before the finish line. Usagi was not about to loose again. She shifted into overdrive and stepped on the gas petal as hard as she could as she caught up to Minako’s car. "Move outta the way!"

"Make me!" Minako turned to look over at Usagi and stuck her tongue out. "I’m gonna win, as usual!" She turned her wheel sharply to the left and bumped into Usagi’s car, nearly causing her to spin out.

"So you wanna play dirty, huh? Well I can deal with that." She turned her wheel to the right and rammed into her opponent and kept turning into her, even after she was off the road. "We’ll see who the better driver is!"

Behind the two blondes stood Ami, Rei, and Makoto, who all giggled at their friends’ rivalry. Usagi and Minako were the only two people that they knew of who got so into games like this. The looser would usually challenge the winner to a spar to even things out, which made it all the more fun.

Minako pulled her wheel to the right and then to the left, crashing her car right back into Usagi’s. "Get offa me you oaf!"

Usagi looked beyond the two cars, which were screeching along. They only had a few feet before they reached the finish line. "You get offa me!" She continued to try to push Minako off of the road. Who ever was off of the road would end up loosing as the grass slowed down the car. But Minako pushing back too made it impossible for her to be pushed off.

Minako looked beyond the two cars that were crashing together just in time to watch them cross the finish line together. Both girls just stared up at the screen with their mouths hanging open. The giggling of their friends behind them could be heard, but it wasn’t exactly clicking inside their heads as they were much more concerned with the race. Minako crossed her fingers as the stats for who one popped up on the screen. Her eyes fully widened. "WHAT!?"

Usagi jumped at the screen. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT WAS A TIE!? I WON, YOU STUPID GAME! MY CAR DEFINITELY HIT THE FINISH LINE FIRST!"

Minako looked away from the screen onto Usagi. "What do you mean YOUR car? Don’t you mean MY car? It was obviously my car that won. The game is just messing up."

Usagi frowned as she looked to Minako. "You’re just upset that I won for once."

"Then how come your name isn’t on the top of the high scores list like mine is?" She grinned deviously as she knew that would make her friend’s blood boil.

"You CHEAT! That’s why!"

"I CHEAT!? I can’t believe you’re calling ME a cheater. Your best friend. What has this world come to?" The girls proceeded to argue, friendly, with each other as they did every time they came into the arcade.

Ami walked over to the main counter where a 16 year old boy stood as he rearranged a shelf. She cleared her throat and the boy turned around, smiling at Ami. "Hey Ami." He looked up and took notice of the argument. "I guess they had another challenge, huh? Who won today?" He turned around and pulled a glass off of a shelf and began to fill it with soda.

"It was a tie and now they’re fighting over who really one. They’re insisting that the game is messed up." She sighed as the boy gave her the soda. "But that’s Minako and Usagi for you. You gotta love them the way they come." She handed him a dollar bill as she sipped the soda from the straw. She looked up at him and smiled. "How did you know that I wanted a soda?"

The boy smiled. "Because every time you come here you ask for one. I thought I would just give you one before you asked for one."

She grabbed the glass off of the counter and smiled up at the boy. "Thanks Motoki (Andrew). I think I’ve been hanging out here too long if I’m THAT predictable." With that, she walked back to the argument between her two friends, which was already beginning to cool down.

Usagi and Minako now had their foreheads bound together as they planned to stare down each other. Makoto couldn’t help but laugh at her friends. "You guys crack me up. Why don’t you just admit that you’re both equally as good as each other at this game."

Usagi pulled back and got into a fighting position. "No! I must claim victory over this weakling! This game will be mine!"

"Is that a challenge?" Minako clenched her fists. She loved having friendly spars, especially if it was over a game. She grinned as Usagi nodded. "In that case, I rise to your challenge, missy." She crouched to a fighting position much like Usagi.

"Hey, HEY! Girls don’t do this again. My dad will kill me if you destroy the place. Remember what happened last time you fought in here?"

Usagi laughed as she stood from her fighting stance and looked over to the teenage boy behind the counter. "Sorry, Motoki. I don’t think I want to spend everyday after school helping you clean up again." She turned to Minako, who was looked to still be in the mood to fight. "Maybe we should take this outside since I don’t have any money left to beat you with."

"You’ve spent your whole weeks allowance already?" Rei shook her head in disappointment. They had had many talks about money management.

Usagi chuckled as she put her hand behind her head to scratch it. "Yeah."

Rei frowned. "You just got that from your mom today. You wasted five bucks on one video game trying to beat Minako. Now what are we supposed to do for fun on days we don’t have to train?"

"Well gees Rei. You act like it’s a crime to spend all of my money here. I’m only ten years old. Give me a break. I’ll just beg mom to give me more."

Ami slowly sipped on her soda. "Didn’t your mom get mad at you last time you asked her for an advance? She gave a long lecture about managing your money, like Rei does all the time. Remember?"

Usagi glared at Ami. "Don’t remind me. It was one of mom’s famous lectures about how I should be more responsible." Her attention was caught by the glares of four young men who were just walking into the store. Usagi immediately felt an uneasiness take her over as the continued to glare at her all the way over to the bar, where Motoki was. "Who are they?"

Makoto turned to look at the boys, who seemed to have been in a recent fight as their faces were all beaten up. "I don’t know, but for some reason I feel that they’re bad news."

"Hey, I saw those guys hanging out with Mamoru, Haruka, and Michiru when I was walking to Capsule Corp. to work with Bulma the other day. They didn’t seem to friendly." Just then, the front door was once again opened and in came Haruka, Michiru, and Mamoru. Ami set her soda down on a stool next to the racing game as she sighed. "Oh great you guys. Here comes more bad news."

Mamoru smirked as he noticed Usagi and the others. "Hey! It’s Odango and her cronies."

"Monkey girl?" Haruka squinted as if she were having trouble recognizing the girl. "Well what do you know. It is. I haven’t seen you in a few months. How are things shaking down in dork lane?"

Usagi rolled her eyes as she tried to act more civilized than the group of bullies. "Why don’t you grow up already? I mean, you’ve been making fun of me since you were in fifth grade. What grade are you in now? Tenth?"

Her words caught the attention of one of the boys, who had blonde hair tide back in a pony tail at the bottom of his head. He wore a black Gi, just as the rest of the boys did. Just as Mamoru, Haruka, and Michiru did too. "Is this that little brat you were telling us about, Mamoru?"

Rei turned to look at the blonde boy, who was now standing up and approaching them. "Who are they? Another one of your followers for your cult?"

"Ouch, a hot head. I like that in a girl." He walked closer to the girls and kept a close eye on Usagi’s tail. "You were right, she is a freak."

Usagi inched away from the boy. "Get away from me. You smell like spoiled milk." She glared up at Mamoru, who seemed to be having a good laugh at her. "Who are they, Mamoru! I demand to know!"

Haruka laughed hard at that one. "Oh look at that! The monkey DEMANDS to know."

Mamoru stopped laughing and motioned for his friends to stop, as well. "Well, if you must know, these are our friends, from America."

The girls all looked back to the boys, who had their full attention on the conversation. "America?"

"Yes America. Seems that Yamcha has been training with them there for some time now. He met them there at a Karate competition and saw that they had, strangely enough, a high potential. He and dad have been training them ever since. They just recently moved here with the permission from their parents."

Usagi turned back to Mamoru with a smiled. "Well I’m happy for all of you."

Michiru snickered. "Fruit."

"WHAT WAS THAT!? Might I remind you that you are on OUR turf right now!" Makoto jumped to her fighting stance. She didn’t care where they were, she was strong enough to take all of them on.

"It’s all right Makoto. I’m happy that they finally have more friends. It’s just sad that they had to go all the way to America to do it. I never knew that you three were so unpopular." She looked up at the clock above the door. "Uh-oh, I was supposed to be home twenty minutes ago. Sorry Minako, we have to fight later. See ya. Oh yeah, it was nice meeting you all." She didn’t waste any time teleporting out of there and to her home. Normally she would have flown home, but in cases of emergencies, like this, she needed to get home fast.

"That girl is going to get herself into some major trouble one of these days."

Minako looked to Rei with a smile on her face. "GOING to get herself into trouble? Girl she’s always getting herself into trouble. She’s gotten herself into more trouble in one year than we have in two."

~*~*~

Usagi arrived just outside her house. Her mother didn’t like it when people teleported in and out so she always had to come just outside the house. ‘Quick, gotta think of an excuse of why I was late.’ She looked around for anything that may make her think of a good reason of why she would be late to getting home. ‘Ah ha! I’ve got it!’

She put on a smile as she opened the front door and casually strolled into the house. "I’m home!" She heard her mother slam a pot down on the counter. ‘I’m ready for ya mom.’

"Usagi, please come in here…now!" Chi-Chi looked back to her husband, who sat at the table while he was looking at a magazine.

Usagi walked into the kitchen with confidence. She wanted to make it look like she wasn’t hiding anything. "Yeah mom?"

Chi-Chi directed her full attention to her daughter. "Where have you been? It’s three fifty! You were supposed to be home twenty minutes ago. I know on Fridays you don’t have to train until after dinner, but that doesn’t mean you can stay out all night. You know what time you are to be home."

Usagi sat down at the table across from her father, who seemed to be more interested in their conversation than his magazine. "Well you see, I was having trouble with this really hard math stuff we’re doing at School. We were working with fractions. I stayed after a little bit so Ami would help me. And we also were working on our map project."

Chi-Chi looked at her daughter with suspicious eyes. "Really…" ‘She’s lying to me. I just know it.’

Goku grinned. "Is that a fact."

Usagi’s facial expression turned from calm and cool to worried. She didn’t like the way her father said that. "Uh…yes. Of course."

"Then why did I feel your Ki at the arcade with Minako and the rest of the girls? I felt yours and Minako’s especially though. You should learn to control your Ki when you get excited."

‘Yikes!’ "Uh…what are you talking about?" Usagi looked around for an escape route, but pretty much knew it was impossible to go anywhere since both of her parents would just grab her and punish her anyway.

Goku frowned. "Don’t lie to me, Usagi. You know how I feel about that. You wont be in as much trouble if you just admit that you were at the arcade. We already know that you were there."

Usagi sighed. "Ok. I’m sorry daddy. I was at the arcade with the girls. I lost track of time when me and Minako challenged each other to see who was better at this new game they got."

Chi-Chi put her hands on her waist as she frowned down to her daughter, who only stood above her waist. "That’s no excuse to lie! First you come home late and then you lie to your own parents."

"Chi-Chi…don’t do this tonight. Please."

"You got lucky, kid. Real lucky. So how much money did you spend?" She pretty much knew how much she spent, she just wanted to hear it for herself. "Don’t be shy. Tell me how much you spent."

"All of it." Usagi replied almost to quiet to hear. Her father picked it all up though. He let out a small laugh and got a glare in response from Usagi. "Don’t laugh."

"I can’t help it. You’re worse than me when it comes to money."

"You spent all of it? Usagi! We’ve talked about this. That was supposed to last you all week. I’m not giving you anymore."

"I don’t expect you to. I knew what I was doing. I just REALLY wanted to beat Minako. And what’s bad is that I nearly beat Minako in the last race and then it ended up being a tie. I was SO mad."

"I bet you were. That really sucks." Goku looked up to Chi-Chi. "Hey, come on. Let me give her some more money so she can go beat Minako."

Chi-Chi, now fuming mad, turned to her husband and smacked him a good one on the back of the head. "You idiot! We don’t want to encourage her bad spending habits. I don’t want her to think that she can spend everything she has and then come back here. Absolutely not!"

"Awww…Come on Chi-Chi. She’s only a kid. Let her have some fun." He winked at his daughter, letting her know that he would somehow find a way to get her some more money.

"I can’t believe you Goku. She comes home late, lies to us, and asks for more money and you actually want to give her more? What are we teaching our children? She needs to learn some responsibility."

Usagi rolled her eyes. "Not again with the responsibility bit."

Chi-Chi turned to her daughter, more angry than before. "Yes again with the responsibility bit! And I know just how you’re going to do it. You can also earn some more money while doing it."

Usagi perked up as she grinned. "I’m listening."

"We want you to go with us to Capsule Corp. after dinner to meet someone."

"Ooh, ooh, who?!" Usagi jumped off of her chair and stood in front of her mother.

"Bulma has a new scientist working for her company who just transferred from Nagoya. He has a little girl about the age of five. Just turned five two months ago actually. Anyway, he let’s her stay in the daycare right there at the building but she seems to have a hard time getting along with the other kids. Seems like she doesn’t let anyone get close to her ever since her mother died a couple of years back. When Bulma mentioned it to me I told her that you would baby-sit for her."

Usagi’s eyes widened. "WHAT!? I can’t take care of a kid. I’m only a kid too. I’m not old enough."

"Don’t worry, this will give you a chance to learn responsibility. And like I said, you will earn money from it too. As for you being too young, while you are young I think that you are very capable of taking care of this girl. You have a knack for making people happy anyway. Remember what Ami was like when you first met her? Don’t worry, if you need help, we’ll be here for you."

‘What is she doing to me? If I have no responsibility at all, how does she expect me to take care of someone younger than me.’ "What’s her name?"

"I didn’t get the name. I only talked to Bulma for a few minutes. She seemed ecstatic about you taking care of her. Seems her father has been looking for a baby-sitter for some time now." She could still see the doubt on her daughter’s face. "Your father and I have talked this over and we both think it’s a wonderful idea."

Usagi turned to her father in disbelief. Though she wanted her parents to believe in her, she didn’t want the burden to be this big. "Daddy…"

Goku nodded. "Your mom seems to really want you to do this. I didn’t see the harm in it. But in order to do this I’m going to have to stop your training for a while."

"WHAT!? You CAN’T do that! What if I fall behind!? THIS IS INSANE! It’s cruel and unusual punishment!" She ran to her father and grabbed the front of his shirt. "TELL ME YOUR JUST PLAING A SICK JOKE ON ME!"

Goku cringed at that. She was beginning to remind him more and more of Chi-Chi whenever she yelled. "Don’t worry sweetie. It will only be for a while. I want this girl to get used to you and get to know you. Before long you can bring her to our training sessions. But this will also give me a chance to train your mother a bit better. And I also want to train myself harder, something I can’t do with you because I don’t want to hurt you."

Usagi sighed. There was no getting around it. "FINE! BE THAT WAY!" She turned around and stormed out of the room.

Goku laughed. "That’s my Usagi. The little fireball."

~*~*~

Bulma led the Son family down long corridors of her company that night not hoping that Usagi would be able to get along with the girl. There was something about the girl that frightened nearly everyone around her except for her father. She had a menacing aura around her that all children were afraid of, thus, this girl had no friends. She knew that Usagi had a way with getting in people’s hearts. She knew that Usagi had a joy for life and hoped that she would bring the girl our her shell. "Now Usagi, there are some things that you must know before we meet her. She is very shy and quiet. Be careful about making big movements around her since she scares easily." She stopped outside a glass window that showed the outside playground for the children at the daycare. She sadly gazed out upon the children, immediately noticing a small figure that sat apart from the rest of the group on the swing set. Where ever the girl was, the other kids were on the opposite side.

Bulma turned to her friends and sighed. "It’s always like that. Others just shy away from her. They’re afraid of her. They are mean to her because of it. She’s been through so much already with loosing her mother."

Usagi curiously looked up to her blue haired friend, who she considered to be her aunt. "How did she loose her mom?"

Bulma, not knowing if she should answer, looked to the girl’s parents. They nodded and let her know that it was ok for her to tell. "Well Usagi, she was killed. No one knows how, but they found her body slaughtered one day when they came home from playing at the park."

Usagi gasped. "Who did it? Did they ever find out?"

"Sadly, they did not. The girl was traumatized. She wouldn’t talk for nearly a year. She was two when it happened. Her father didn’t know what to do with her. He took her to see physiatrists of all sorts, hoping that one day she would return to normal. She hardly ate anything. As a result of that, she didn’t grow at the normal rate. Then one day, she just started acting normal again. It was a mystery, even to her father." Usagi inched closer to her mother as she listened to the story. She didn’t ever want to think about something like that happening to her own mother. "She still isn’t the same. She really only talks to her father."

She looked down and proceeded to continue. "Even I am a little scared of her, though I don’t know why. It’s like a primal fear of existence, and I can’t control."

Goku and Chi-Chi looked at the child and also seemed to sense what Bulma meant. Goku felt it much more than his wife had. He wondered if Usagi felt it too. "I know what you mean by that, I can sense her Ki. It’s filled with deathly things, but don’t know why myself. But that’s wrong to treat a child in such a manor for no reason. Still, I’m not sure anymore that this is such a good idea."

He turned to address his daughter but noticed that she was no longer at their side. "Usagi?"

"Huh?" Chi-Chi looked down to her side, where her daughter formerly was, and frowned. "Where could she have gone? Don’t tell me she got cold feet? I know that girl seems somewhat frightening, but that doesn’t mean she can bail out."

"Chi-Chi! Look!" Bulma exclaimed as she pointed out the window where Usagi was skipping playfully towards the girl.

Chi-Chi sighed in exasperation as she realized she should have known better then to think her daughter would be afraid of a little girl or turn her back on one. She smiled in quite pride and observed her daughter with an amused Bulma and a clueless Goku.

~*~*~

Usagi skipped towards the frail figure, who was dressed in a pink jumper dress with a white turtle neck shirt underneath it. She looked too depressed to be a kid. ‘I know just what’s she’s feeling right now.’ She turned her attention to the group of kids on the other side of the play ground as they called out for her to come and play with them. ‘Those are her bullies.’ "No! I can’t play right now!" She decided to ignore them from then on. She had already told them that she had other things to do.

The girl looked up when she heard Usagi yelling. It sounded too close to her. The girl seemed to be skipping towards her. ‘Why is she coming over here? She’s going to make fun of me. I just know it.’ She felt more hurt inside just thinking about being made fun of once again as she looked down to the ground in envy and loneliness, sinking deeper into the shell she had placed her heart in for the last three years since her mother died. She became confused when a shadow fell over her and no taunting was heard. ‘Why does the shadow feel bright? Without sun it should be dark, but it’s not.’ She looked up and saw the smiling face of Usagi.

Usagi smiled down upon the girl with a large grin that put the sun to shame with its brightness. She couldn’t wait to get to know the girl. More over, she couldn’t wait to let the girls meet her.

The girl’s eyes became huge as she realized that the bright light she felt upon her was only the other girl’s smile. She herself couldn’t help but smile at the fact that this girl wasn’t looking at her with fear, but only of friendship.

Usagi smiled at the dark haired little girl and immediately felt a closeness to her that she had only felt with her friends and family. But she could also sense the severe hurt and emptiness and loneliness that radiated off of the girl with painful clarity, that saddened her.

She realized that, just like her, she was feared and made fun of to fell like a freak just because she was different. But Usagi had friends to help her though the rough times. And her family was there for her whenever she needed them. But most of all, she had a forgiving heart and nature that eventually won over the rest of her classmates. They no longer feared her as she was no longer made to be the outcast. She would try to teach this child to love all even when they don’t always love you.

Usagi looked deeper into the child’s violet eyes, that held far too much pain for any child. They showed her fear of forever being alone, something that, when she was younger, thought she would always feel. Usagi decided it was time to take action. This girl had know loneliness had hatred for far too long. She extended her hand to the girl and impossibly increased the wattage of her smile. "Hi! I’m Son Usagi! What’s your name!?"

The girl looked at the hand in front of her and hesitated to respond. ‘Is this some sort of game? It has to be. No one has ever been nice to me before.’ She glares at the hand and then back at Usagi, having a hard time believing that this was for real. That Usagi didn’t want to hurt her but only be friends. "What do you want?"

Her voice was full of anger and suspicion. But underneath, hidden from all, except the empathetic Usagi who opened her heart to all, is a desperate plea for someone to care.

Usagi looked the girl in the eye and continued to hold her hand out, not in the least taking offence to her tone. She knew how it felt to be shunned by people because you were different. "To be your friend."

The girl was shocked by Usagi’s statement and feared that was a trick. She was about to lash out at the young Saiyan for lying but as she was about to, she looked deeper into Usagi’s eyes and only sees honesty, compassion, and the caring that she so desperately longed for. Her eyes began to tear up as she realized that, for once, someone ACTUALLY wanted to be friends with her. "I’m…I’m…Tomoe Hotaru." She states in a quivering voice as she finally grabs the hand extended to her.

Usagi let out a slight giggle as she, once again, made another victory. "Hi Hotaru, it’s nice to meet you! my friend Bulma told me about you and asked if I could watch you while your dad works. I think that’s a great idea. I just know we‘re going to be the best of friends. Come on, let go play on the swings."

She grabbed Hotaru’s startled hand and drug her over to two empty swings beside each other. All of the kids herded away from the duo as they didn’t want to get close to Hotaru. They looked at Usagi as if she were crazy for even talking to Hotaru, let alone touching her. They seemed to think that it was strange that someone as bright and cheerful as Usagi would hang out with Usagi. Some of them even began to think that Hotaru may not be so bad.

While they didn’t stop fearing her completely, they did stop glaring at her and even allowed them to join in on some of their games. Usagi made sure that Hotaru was included in each game and got as much of an equal chance to play as all of the other children. She taught Hotaru all of the rules of each and every game. The children soon realized that Hotaru wasn’t as scary as they had made her out to be.

~*~*~

For the first time since her mother’s death, Hotaru actually smiled. Bulma was shocked out of her mind when she heard the five year old laugh at loud. She had known Hotaru for around three months now and had never seen the girl smile or laugh. She looked over at Usagi’s parents in a flabbergasted trance with her mouth open and ready to speak out of but she couldn’t find a thing to say to the couple.

Goku and Chi-Chi just smiled proudly as they watched their daughter work her magic. Chi-Chi was especially proud. "I knew she could do it. Once you told me of the girl I knew that Usagi would be able to penetrate her shell. She just has room in her heart for everyone." Goku just grinned as he watched his daughter.

Bulma could only nod and agree with her friend as slow grin appeared on her face. ‘That girl sure has a special gift.’

~*~*~

By the end of the night, any reservations that Hotaru had had about Usagi had vanished. She happily looked to the clock and realized that it was getting very late. All of the children had had already left the center, all except herself and Usagi. "This has been really fun, Usagi. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had."

Usagi smiled as she tried to scan the area for her parents. ‘DADDY! YOU WENT TO BED ALL READY!’ "That’s cool. I had a lot of fun too." ‘At least mom is here.’ She too looked to the clock, which read ten o’clock at night. It was an hour past her bed time.

"Do I get to meet your parents, Usagi?" She leaned into Usagi as she yawned. She couldn’t wait for her own father to come and meet Usagi, her new best friend.

Usagi wrapped her arm around Hotaru as the girl cuddled into her. "You can meet my mom. My dad already left for home." ‘I wanted him to meet her, too.’ "Hotaru, does your dad always make you stay here this late?"

"Only on night when he has meetings with important people." She looked to the door just in time to see her father walking in. She ripped herself away from Usagi’s loving hold and launched herself into her father’s arms. "PAPA!"

Professor Tomoe was shocked as he looked down into his daughter’s eyes and didn’t see any tears of suffering. "Hey! How’s my little firefly?" He nearly fainted as she beamed up at him with a dazzling smile on her face, one that he hadn’t seen in years. Tears began to well up in his own eyes at the return of his daughter’s happiness. He sets her down as he was curious as to what could have possibly made his daughter so happy.

Hotaru latched on to her father’ hands and drug him over to Usagi, who was smiling up at him. "Daddy this is my NEW BEST FRIEND USAG! She is the one that Mrs. Bulma told us about, the one you said might be my new sitter. I’m not a baby. I don’t need a BABY sitter. CAN SHE?! CAN SHE!?" She asked with great enthusiasm as she hopped up and down like a kid high on sugar. "I really like her! We played tag, and the others actually let me play with them. They weren’t afraid to touch me or anything. And we played on the swings, and made a sand castle in the sand box, and she even showed me some of her martial arts training and how she can fly, and use energy, and she even said that she would ask her daddy if he could teach me a little. But only if you let me. CAN I!? CAN I!? It would be fun learning with her! PLEEEEEEEAAAADEEEE DADDY! I want HER to be my sitter. PLEEEEEEAAAASEEEEE?!" She huffed and panted as she tried to catch her breath from THAT mouthful.

He couldn’t help but smile as he looked down at his daughter’s glowing face and then at Usagi’s. He realized what he had heard from Bulma and Dr. Mizuno was true. Usagi did have a way of getting into the hearts of others. He remembered what Bulma and Dr. Mizuno had mentioned about Usagi’s fighting skills. They had said that she was one of the most skilled fighters that they had ever met. Though Dr. Mizuno was a bit more leering of it, of course, she admitted that Usagi was one of the reasons why her own daughter wasn’t still in her shell. Along with her other friends who help with that little matter. They had also told him that they didn’t fight to pick on people. They fought for fun and to defend themselves.

He sighed as he realized that there was no way he could stop the positive change in his daughter that today’s miracle had brought. He turned to Usagi with a concerned look on his face. "If I let her train, do you promise not to let her get hurt?"

Usagi thought of how her father trained her and realized that he would have to train Hotaru differently. But she knew that he would be willing to. "Don’t worry, sir. I’ll ask my dad. I’m sure he’ll train her so she doesn’t get hurt."

The professor smiled at her. He could see the sincerity in he eyes that she was telling the truth. ‘At least she’s polite.’ "Let’s go into the office and talk to Bulma and Usagi’s parents. I think she will be a great SITTER. Plus, if the Sons don’t mind training you, I have no objections."

Hotaru once again threw herself into her father’s arms with great happiness. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!"