Sea's Defense by Mana Tatsumiya (formerly UMFan)
She's silhouetted in the moonlight, beams falling around her like so many shards of broken glass, and as you gently take her in your arms so that her back is against your chest you realize how fragile she really is and how far you have fallen for her. She rests her head against your shoulder, eyes closed, looking like a visage of the past. You remember bits and pieces of your past life you hardly ever got a chance away from the other outer senshi but when you did you would creep into her room soundlessly, and as usual she would know you were coming and wait for you.
Making love by the firelight has always been intense, but with her it's like dying and being reborn. You know a little about that, now. You sit in the silence, holding her close and trying to forget about duty. You've always hated that word, ever since you were a little girl on your father's knee listening to him on his business phone and wishing he would look at you, just look, because since mother died he's been more and more distant. But your thoughts are drifting too far back now and you draw yourself to the present and to her. She speaks suddenly, and her voice is raspy.
"Michiru-chan, are you okay?" She lifts her head and draws back from you for a moment and suddenly you realize how much it hurts that she does that, that she's so willing to pull away from you when you give everything you are to her so effortlessly. But then again she's always been like that it s so easy to fall a little in love with her because of it.
"Usagi-chan yes, I'm alright. Just lost in thought, I suppose."
She smiles then, a little, and you forget that you were angry with her for even a moment and draw her back into your embrace, kissing her gently. She kisses back enthusiastically and you think of Haruka for a moment. Haruka is supposed to be your soulmate, your destiny, but at this moment you couldn t care less. You are in love with the moon princess, and you know that somewhere inside, beyond Chiba Mamoru, beyond Crystal Tokyo and the Moon Kingdom and her destiny she feels the same. You know she will be Queen eventually, and you will be relegated to the background, and it does not matter to you in the slightest.
Because you love her, and somewhere inside you always will. Haruka can't and won't understand that kind of love. You thought you had it once when you almost died for Uranus but you were fooling yourself. The first time you felt alive was when she touched your hand, and when you held her close to you in a sparring match your genius brain finally made the connection.
"Will you come back to me now, Michiru-chan?"
She speaks again and you are drawn back into reality at the sound of her voice.
"Ah, Usagi-chan, you always have a way of making me forget what I was thinking." You reply, smiling at her.
She chuckles softly, brushing back one of her long odangos.
"Of course. You know it would be boring without me interrupting your thoughts. Sometimes you re more like Ami-chan than you realize, Michiru-chan."
Your smile changes to a mock frown as you grab her, pulling her forward into your lap and tickling her sides. As she squeals and struggles you begin to laugh along with her, knowing that for this one moment, at least until sunrise, you should worry about nothing. You are hers, and she is yours, and it is beautiful.
-End (for now)