La Guerrera del tiempo by Starsea

Nochevieja

Theme: Celebration

"Hurry, Setsuna-mama, hurry, it's starting!"

Setsuna smiled to herself at the irony of it, someone telling her to hurry. As if she didn't know that the New Year was only seconds away, as if she didn't feel it in her bones. "I'm coming!" she called, sailing into the room with a tray of four champagne flutes, three of them filled with pure champagne, one of them filled with Buck's Fizz for their young daughter, who was being allowed to stay up for the first time to see the New Year in.

Haruka and Michiru were already sitting on the sofa, Haruka's arm slung around Michiru's shoulders. They both smiled at Setsuna and took their glasses. Hotaru was on her feet, bouncing up and down, her eyes fixed on the television as the countdown began.

"Diez... nueve... ocho..."

Setsuna put the Buck's Fizz on a table nearby, so Hotaru could easily reach it at the proper time.

"Siete... seis... cinco... cuatro..."

She realised that Hotaru was chanting the numbers in Spanish, not in Japanese, and her heart swelled suddenly.

"Tres... dos... uno..." Hotaru whirled around to face her parents and yelled, "HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

"Happy New Year!" they chorused, all leaning forward and kissing her. She beamed at them and quickly grabbed her glass, holding it up. "Kampai!"

They echoed her cry, clinking the flutes together and drinking at the same time. Hotaru's face scrunched up. "The bubbles make it taste funny," she observed.

Setsuna hid a smile. "Well, you've had a drink, so you can tip it down the sink and just have orange juice if you like."

"No," Hotaru said, setting her chin. "That would be cheating." And she drank the rest of the fizzy mixture dutifully, then spoiled the effect by sticking her tongue out afterwards. "Yuk!"

Setsuna took the glass and walked her to the kitchen to have a drink of water. Haruka and Michiru were having their traditional New Year's dance and she could see fireworks being let off through the windows, red and white and yellow. The radio was on, and they hummed along to Beethoven's Ode to Joy as she ran the cold water tap.

Hotaru gulped her drink down in about five seconds and refilled her mug. "We'll go to the shrine tomorrow and pray for good luck, ne, Setsuna-mama?" she asked, her eyes already shining with possibilities. "Then we can celebrate the New Year with Rei-san and the others!"

Setsuna reached out and stroked the soft hair. "Of course," she said. "That's what New Year is all about: family."


Title: New Year's Eve (literally "old night")

DISCLAIMER: All these women belong to Naoko Takeuchi.

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