Warning: Slightly Alternate Universe

Bottom of the Bottle

By: Haruka's Knight

It was funny in some ways, really it was. The tall blonde sat astride her motorcycle, parked not far from the edge of a cliff, and watched calmly through her sunglasses as the sky was painted vivid colors by the dying sun. Years ago she'd thought she would never again find herself here, not so much this physical place, but more at this point in her life. She had feared her destiny for so long, she had tried to run, but once she had embraced it she'd almost wanted to thank someone for giving her a partner like Michiru. It took time, and work on both parts, but they had come to a point where the blonde had truly believed they no longer had any secrets from each other.

And now Haruka had ruined that. Oh it wasn't apparent at first, it wasn't noticeable at first. A small breach and it was revealed that the tall blonde had feelings for her shorter friend. At the time it had been nothing, both too busy for anything regardless. Once things settled Michiru had been kind about explaining that she didn't return her friend's feelings. Things had still been great after that, even with the mild torture of sharing an apartment with your unrequited love. Now though, that had all gone down the drain.

One month earlier:

Haruka walked through the door with a cocky grin on her face, slipping her shoes off as she entered. She quirked an eyebrow at the extra pair of shoes which sat by the door but shrugged. Before she could take a step further Setsuna popped out of the kitchen door and blocked the blonde's path, almost as if the time guardian had been waiting for her.

"Haruka, just the women I was waiting for." Setsuna took a hold of the Wind Senshi's arm and pulled her back toward the door, speaking as quietly as possible. "I was hoping you could drive me to the store, we need some stuff for dinner tonight."

"Okay, I guess that's fine." Haruka started before they heard Michiru's voice from the other room. The Wind Senshi raised an eyebrow and glanced at Setsuna. "I thought Michiru left for a concert this morning."

"Um, she postponed it." Setsuna gave a sigh as the other senshi walked off toward the living room and poked her head around the door frame. It wasn't long before Haruka returned to the door and pulled her shoes back on, a concerned Michiru not far behind.

"Haruka what's wrong with you? You didn't even say hi?" Michiru asked but received only a glare from her taller partner as a young man emerged from the living room as well. He grinned and waved at the taller racer with a smug look. Michiru spoke as sternly as if she'd caught Hotaru trying to sneak out. "Haruka, speak."

"Setsuna, did you actually need anything from the store?" The blonde ignored both the man and her partner. The time guardian shook her head and watched sadly as Haruka walked back out with no further comment.

Haruka doubted Setsuna was surprised when the two other women were woken by a phone call later that night. The blonde noticed that only Setsuna picked her up from the police station, and that the other woman sent her worried looks. As they entered Michiru shook her head at the tall blonde, asking her if she felt good about picking on the poor man. The blonde finally snapped, in reality for the second time that night, and yelled at the violin player before retreating to her own room.

Present time:

Haruka sighed as she started her gold bike's engine and wheeled it around to face back toward the street. Though in outward appearance the two had forgiven each other nothing was the same. Michiru and Haruka hardly spoke to one another and Haruka all but didn't speak to any of the younger scouts. The blonde began to have nightmares, constantly involving two things she'd come to dread seeing: Michiru and alcohol. As this thought came back to her she quickly peeled down the narrow road and toward the city streets of Tokyo.

Haruka had always had this fear during her current life. She'd been lucky enough that her father had given up alcohol before her birth, but had still been told the stories. Had come to learn that all of his family had had a problem with controlling themselves when it came to such substances. In fact Michiru was one of very few that knew Haruka's brother had died, or more correctly knew he'd existed. He'd gone from drinking to drugs and over dosed sometime while the two were searching for the talismans. Haruka had always escaped her fears by taking to the track or to the streets, racing the wind. The few times she simply could not shake fears she spoken to Michiru.

Now she no longer felt she could speak to the violin player, and in fact felt Michiru was part of the problem. No amount of fresh air or breaking traffic laws was helping the blonde this time. The nightmares only increased and so did that insistent voice in the back of her mind. That voice that said one drink wouldn't hurt, that nothing bad could happen. Haruka opened up the throttle on her bike, ignoring the flashing lights that appeared in her side mirror. The police cruiser had no chance of catching her.

At the home of the four outer scouts:

Setsuna silently sat in a chair, her eyes skimming over the text of a very old book as Hotaru watched an anime on the large TV. The two sat in complete silence until Michiru strode into the living room. Two pairs of eyes looked up to the clearly perturbed senshi of the sea as she set her violin carefully on the table before glaring at a picture on the wall. Setsuna followed her line of sight and winced as she spotted a picture of Haruka there.

"Hotaru-chan." Michiru spoke with false calm and the young teen shut off the TV and stood from the couch. Her violet eyes shot a quick look toward Setsuna and the two exchanged a worried glance. Michiru continued. "Don't you have something you should be studying?"

"I could go read over my English assignment, Michiru-mama." Hotaru said quietly as she edged toward the door. Michiru was nodding, seeming to no longer see the girl as her eyes landed on the oldest housemate. Setsuna nodded and Hotaru all but dashed up the staircase and away from two of her three guardians.

"Where is she?" Michiru questioned, her eyes on Setsuna even as the woman stared down into her book.

"If you mean Haruka, I truly have no idea." Setsuna said in a steady voice as she placed a book mark on her page and set the book aside. She looked up and met the smoldering eyes of the sea senshi. "I hate to point this out, Michiru-chan, but Haruka is your partner not mine."

"I know something is wrong with her Suna." Michiru finally said as she sat heavily on the couch. She noticed the look Setsuna was giving her and waved one elegant hand toward the picture she'd earlier glared at. "I have known something wasn't right for a while. I don't understand why she's mad, I should be the one who was insulted."

"Do you really believe that?" Setsuna said simply. Michiru looked back toward her with surprise written in those deep blue eyes. Setsuna stood and began to pace slowly back and forth. "Do you really think all this is jealousy over some ex-boyfriend who isn't worth anyone's time of day?"

"Setsuna." Michiru began in a warning tone but was cut off as the older senshi stopped pacing and glared at her. Michiru fell silent and waited for the clearly irked woman to speak.

"You may think that because you didn't raise your voice that your actions were adult and hurt no one." Setsuna began in a dangerous tone. "But you are horrible mistaken Michiru. Yes Haruka's actions were less than mature but at least she can claim hers stemmed from concern for you and not foolish, childish pride. Haruka's actions that night were not to make herself feel better, those two had been friend's before you dated him, she did what she did because she was concerned for your feelings."

"I can take care of myself, I am an adult after all." Michiru defended as she stood and faced the taller woman. She glared a bit as she spoke again. "Just because she thinks she's in love with me doesn't mean I should coddle her feelings."

"Is that what you believe you have been doing?" Setsuna sat back down and shook her head with grim amusement. She looked back toward the still fuming women before her with an amazed look on her face. "She told you everything, opened up fully to you when she would not for anyone else and you still can't understand her. You still feel the need to hide your feelings from her. Haruka may be depressed far more often then she lets on but at least she tried."

"What are you talking about?" Michiru asked, exasperated with the whole topic. "It's not like she's having any serious problems right now, she is just being herself and expecting me to come ask her what's wrong like I always have."

"If that's true why can't you find her?" Setsuna's simple statement struck Michiru in a manner the artist hadn't experienced. Red eyes regarded the younger woman before her. "She is pulling away and when I tried to point it out you said she was just dwelling. Michiru, she hasn't even been home some nights while you were gone."

"Where did she go?"

"That's what Hotaru and I would like to know, but she wont talk." Setsuna picked up her book again but didn't open it. "When she does talk it isn't real, it's like she doesn't trust anyone now. She avoids the inner scouts, smiling when she runs into them and pretending that she is happy to see them before making up some story about having to do something or another and running off. They can buy it but those of us who live with her can tell."

"If something is wrong she must have talked to one of you." Michiru began to brush it off and stood. Before she could leave the living room however Setsuna spoke again.

"Actually, you're the only one she ever told her problems to."

Somewhere across Tokyo:

Haruka stepped through the door of the biker bar and strolled over to the bar. She took a seat on one of the stools as she removed her glasses and set them on the wooden counter top. The bartender looked up at her with recognition and she nodded to the man. A dark glass bottle was set in front of her with its black label facing her.

"Seems like a waste." Someone commented next to her. She spared a glance at the man on the next stool as he eyed her drink. "Jack Daniel's colas aren't just some beer. Every time to you come in here you order one, and you stare at for hours sometimes and then you leave. It's a waste."

"Have it." Was the only response she gave as she stood and placed some yen on the counter top before grabbing her glasses. The confused man was still staring at the drink as she walked out the door and back into the cool night air.

Mounting her gold motorcycle again Haruka took off toward home. She pulled up outside the house after a short ride and climbed off. As she opened the door she could hear violin music coming from the living room, though the tune stopped as she shut the front door.

"Haruka, please come here." Michiru called, her tone polite. Haruka shrugged out of her jacket and walked into the living room still wearing her dark shades. She waited for the shorter woman to speak first. Michiru sounded a bit uncertain when she finally spoke. "Where did you go?"

"Out." Haruka responded with no malice or really any feeling in her voice.

"Oh." Michiru paused and searched for a topic to open up a conversation with her friend. She nodded toward some sheet music sitting on the table. "I was wondering if you would go over my new composition with me."

"Maybe some other time, I'm a bit tired." Haruka replied with out even considering the request. Noticing the somewhat dejected look in those blue eyes she removed her glasses and decided to test the waters just a bit. With her glasses off dark circles were visible below her eyes and Michiru sucked in a breath at the sight. Teal eyes were blood shot and the taller woman had obviously been losing sleep over something. "Was there anything else?"

"No, that's it. I guess I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah." Haruka agreed, feeling as if they were on different continents as she strode from the room. It was clear that Michiru could no longer see when things were wrong with her tall partner, and Haruka didn't feel inclined to inform her anymore. She reached her room and locked the door before falling into bed fully clothed.

Down stairs, in the living room, Michiru wanted to run after the tall blonde and say yes there was more. She wanted to insist they needed to talk about what was going on. Michiru was desperately holding to her resolve that Setsuna was wrong and Haruka was just dwelling. She shook her head, knowing she was wrong but refusing to admit it to even herself. She lifted the violin again to her shoulder and a slow, hauntingly sad tune floated through the house. Elsewhere in the house red eyes rolled in exasperation at the actions of two senshi, and two violet eyes clouded again with concern.