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Rather than take her finger back, Sailor Iris kept her glove-covered finger jammed into the girl's stomach. She didn't explain, but it came across as if she was trying to make another point.

"I jus' picked it up I guess. Never took lessons, just picked a lotta fights when I was a kid."

Her finger was still digging into the girl. It seemed as if the yellow suited girl had something in mind, keeping her lips pressed shut. However, something rather suddenly broke that silence.

"So, what are you going to do?"

The Senshi of Rainbow's eyes shot open wide as she began to look around. She didn't move her hand, but began to look around hurriedly. Was it a possible enemy? It was pretty dark, so it wasn't like she'd be able to really spot it at this point.

If it was not for the fact the taller of the two girls was trying to locate the possible intruder, she might have acknowledged the fact that Metis had done a good job picking up on that lesson. Since her hand was no longer where she had poked, the blonde stood herself up to her full height and resumed her searching.

At her student's mention of what that new voice could possibly be, Sailor Iris simply groaned out "Jus' what we need... another cat..." God, she hated cats. Seriously.

The faint sound of jingling approached until a rather small cat literally sat itself right in front of Sailor Metis.

"I knew you would be able to figure it out, Metis!" the cat almost seemed to purr out. Without any hesitation, the cat nudged her head against the blind senshi's boot, causing the silvery bell about her neck to jostle and make a small metallic sound.

Sailor Iris watched the cat, crossing her arms, practically glaring at this cat. It was pretty dark, but there was one thing she noticed after enough staring.

"Say, cat, yer not 'ere t'b*tch us out 'bout how we're not findin' yer 'princess' fast 'nough, are ya?" Pause. "Y'must be a defective cat, since yer missin' yer tail..."

If it wasn't obvious, Sailor Iris did NOT like cats at all. Regardless of whether they could talk or not.

Two ears twitched at the blonde's rather harsh words. Had they upset the cat, the ears might have pinned themselves upon the feline's head. Instead, they remained up and alert, as if the comments were simply tossed over the cat's shoulders. Her green eyes glanced from each senshi's face. Good, both of them were looking at her.

"Not 'Miss,' Metis. *********. I am *********, and I will be honest, Iris, I have not missed the tail since I never had one to begin with. Can't miss what you never knew!"

The cat paused again to look at both girls, making certain that they were still looking at her. Still good in those regards.

"What brings me here is that I've finally found you both! Kinda convenient if you ask me, since you are both here together!" The cat laughed out a good natured chuckle before continuing. "You two, Sailor Iris and Sailor Metis, are my girls! My Asteroid Belt girls!"

Sailor Iris was beginning to lose interest pretty quickly in all this gushing. Her eyes began to drift away so she could focus in on the words being said. Yet as her eyes began to move away, the pale spotted cat did something strange. As her eyes moved, the cat began to walk to stay in sight. This cat, ********* (as Iris remembered she introduced herself), was looking at her rather purposefully as she followed the shifting glance.

"You know, Iris, I was hoping that you would be a bit less... rude. Maybe even a bit more polished. I am going to have to work with you a lot to get you to your best potential. I expect a lot from my girls, and right now, you are barely tolerable."

Sailor Iris' glance seemed to grow so cold, that she could possibly freeze someone in place with a glare. She didn't hesitate to pick the cat up swiftly by the scruff of the neck and holding it up to eye level.

"Look, cat! We were doin' jus' fine without ya! Why th'hell weren't ya around when we first started up this stupid senshi thing?! Ya make it sound like we're pretty damned important t'ya, but if ya ask me, yer full of bullsh*t!!!"

The cat's ears only twitched slightly as she dangled from her new location. Was that a smile on the cat's face?

Even with the cat out of her hands, and even after Metis attempted to calm the senshi of Rainbow's mood, there was no soothing this particular savage beast.

"No! F*ck that sh*t! She has NO RIGHT coming in 'ere like she knows everythin' and tellin' us we gotta do things to suit 'er fancy!" As if to accentuate her point, she stomped her foot on the ground.

The cat, now in her new location, was making herself cozy. She snuggled up against Metis' bosom and purred into her body slightly. Her green eyes glanced back to the obviously upset senshi.

Obviously upset.

"You really are going to be a hell raiser, Iris." The cat mimicked a shrugging gesture as best as a cat could, then continued. "Look, girls... I actually can't explain the 'whys' now. All I know is that you are my girls. I only know my girls by name, not by looks, not by personality, just by name."

********* sighed, knowing how unconvincing she probably sounded at the moment. "Look, you two are only the first of my girls. There are six others. And I need help finding them."

Sailor Iris let out a bitter laugh. She was not amused, despite the amused sound escaping her. "So, this is all 'bout you then, is that it?"

Silvery fur puffed up slightly. Obviously a nerve had been hit, but the cat tried to maintain her cool as she interjected "No, it is about us! Things are only going to get more dangerous as we keep going. You need a team to survive, Iris! The solo act will get you killed sooner rather than later!"

Why was all of this sounding so familiar? Oh, probably because she had this conversation at least one time before, if not a few times. And just like then, it wasn't coming through loud or clearly for Sailor Iris.

"I don't care if I get killed!" she stubbornly shouted in rebuttal. "I don't care! Everyone dies at some point. I don't give a damn when I do or don't die!" Her almost intense eyes shot to Metis' dulled ones. "And I don't mean that in the 'I cut myself cause I'm emo' way!"

Had there been any dudes here, she would have probably started throwing her fists at them. Yet, unfortunately, there were no dudes. Instead, just chicks. A chick named Metis, and a chick-cat. Chicks were obnoxious and annoying to deal with. Dudes, you threw fists, then you got over everything. Chicks continued to cling onto whatever issue had been brought up and tried to bring it up in the future to make you feel horrible. Mental torture.

The girls did not know how ********* worked. They had only just met. However, as Metis seemed to offer her support of the whole idea, ********* patted a paw along the girl's arm, as if to try and hush her.

"Thank you, Metis. However, it is Iris' decision, and it sounds like she is saying she'd rather die than be on a team." The silvery gray feline sounded rather sad, as if her heart had just been broken into many pieces. Yet, she continued to speak. "All I request is that you think it over, Iris. I know you don't really know me, and you don't really know me, but I am serious when I say that I want to see all of my girls safe." Feeling almost miserably defeated, the cat's ears flattened across her head in sorrow.

The blonde turned away to look off somewhere in the distance. She wasn't looking at Metis. She wasn't looking at the cat. She was just looking out towards where the street was. She wasn't looking for anything particular, but she was sick of looking at the senshi/cat combo. As she remained standing there, proud and tall, her hands balled up into tight fists.

"I don't like it when people put words in my mouth." Her tone was serious, and in all honesty, almost saturated with a deep sense of loathing.

"I ain't makin' any promises with you, cat." She couldn't see it, but the cat's green eyes seemed to sink down towards the ground in disappointment.

"However, I don't back out on promises I already made. I'll train Metis, like I told 'er I would. I'll figure th'other sh*t out later!" Getting that off of her chest, the tomboy of a scout just began to run. She had enough of this conversation and this evening. Screw them all for not being guys so she could just pummel them.

The cat just sighed.

"She's going to make this difficult on us, isn't she?"

The feline sighed once more. She glanced up and managed to catch the fact the girl's eyes were shut. Lightly, she tapped her paw at the girl's chest, as if to say "please open your eyes." Eye contact. It was important. Especially to ********* tailless cat would wait until she had the eye contact, even if the eyes were physically blind, the least Metis could do was look at her with them. Once eyes were on her, she then replied to the senshi's concern.

"I will continue my search. You can set me down, I will go off and keep trying my best."

There was a thoughtful pause before she added "Iris probably doesn't get it, but my girls are important to me. I don't know any of you, but you are all still very important to me." The spotted cat rubbed her cheek against Metis' chest bow, whiskers poking against the material. She tastefully decided to not mention the fact she had nowhere she could technically call home. She was far too busy to be able to stay still for too long.

It was always a shame to have to leave the warm arms of someone kind. Yet, ********* knew she had to leave sometime. She couldn't do her job if she was cradled in the arms of a senshi. Unless the senshi could read minds and take her everywhere that the cat's heart desired.

That would be nice though...

Once on all four paws again, the cat looked up to Metis. "Well, now that I've found you both, I will be checking up with you. Both of you." The cat's sturdy little body rubbed itself against the girl's boot, as if to claim her. "If I need either one of you, I will just find you. Even if I don't need you at the moment, I will still find you both again. I want to learn more about my girls." With a quick rub of the cheek along the girl's boot, the cat then began to walk away.

Even though it was the dead of the night, the air seemed a bit more lively, now that a single silver bell was livening the air with that gentle tinkling sound. It did not take too long for the sound to almost disappear completely. ********* had work to do, and staying at Meadowview's soccer field was not part of that work.

[FIN]