I got the idea for this fic around...oh, I don't know, three months ago and I have only just got around to finishing it (thank you friend for choosing it from the list!).

Also, it's always when I write Haruka/Michiru that my fics end up slightly longer than usual. The moral of this: always write Haruka/Michiru!

"No."

There were a few things in the world that Haruka wouldn't try; especially if it revolved around a certain aqua-haired woman (Michiru had a wicked imagination). But then again, those were the few things she definitely wouldn't do. This was one of those things.

"Haruka."

"No, Michiru. I'm not doing it."

Michiru's hand stroked the hair at the top of her neck in an attempt to distract her. It worked ridiculously well. Haruka was just about to tell her to stop it when the other hand began dancing over the skin of her lower stomach. She suddenly regretted wearing that tank top which rode up.

"Please, Haruka."

"No."

It was hard to put any conviction in her voice when Michiru was touching her. The offending girl seemed to sense her advantage. The hand on her stomach drifted lower until the fingertips brushed the elastic waistband of her shorts.

"I could make it worth your while."

Haruka shut her eyes and ears against the sultry smile and seductive tone. The weight shifted on the bed. Michiru's lips brushed her stomach.

Haruka forgot what they were talking about.

She supposed that was why, an hour later, she was walking out of their hotel to the beach, wearing a kami-sama forsaken bikini under one of her usual tops and long cargo shorts. She figured that if she had to wear the thing, she should at least be able to cover it up. She kept up a continuous muttering of "I hate you", regarding the serene Michiru who walked beside her, looking undeniably sexy in a black one-piece, an aqua-marine sarong fastened around her waist.

"You'll thank me for it later." Michiru said calmly, her eyes forward and not on the annoyed girl behind her.

"You're too right I will!" Haruka growled. "Because whatever you're going to do to make it up to me is going to be good."

"Oh, it will be." Michiru's voice held a touch of mystery. Haruka swallowed hard as they started down the stone steps that eventually gave way to soft, white sand.

"Haruka-san! Michiru-san!"

They looked to their left to see that the group had already snagged a few deckchairs, and had rather kindly kept one for them. It had clearly been no surprise that the two were late. They made their way over, noticing that the group had unconsciously separated into pairs. Usagi and Mamoru were over by the sea front, the latter laughing at the former's squeals as the cold water reached her toes. It was she who had called of them

Setsuna and Hotaru were attempting to build a sandcastle – Setsuna looked like she would like nothing better than to stop time before the next one had a chance to fall down. "You're late," she noted with a wry, knowing smile.

Ami was lying on a towel reading a book. She barely looked up to offer her greeting, which was probably just as well. Zoisite was sitting next to her, and while at first glance he appeared to be reading as well, it soon became clear that he was actually watching the girl in the demure blue swimsuit.

Rei and Makoto were sat on deckchairs side-by-side. However, while Makoto was stretched out, a hand flung off the side and resting on a dozing Nephrite's back, Rei was trying to ignore Jadeite. She appeared to be failing.

Lastly, Minako was sunbathing on a towel a little way away from Kunzite, looking stunning in a skimpy orange string bikini. When they'd first arrived she'd announced that she had a new plan to get the silver haired man's attention. She'd decided to ignore him, claiming that that was bound to make him realise how much he loved her. She also appeared to be failing.

Minako opened her eyes when she heard their names, before giving a yelp when she was temporarily blinded by the sun. Rolling her eyes, Rei managed to get the first comment in.

"Michiru-san, I love your suit!" She called. Michiru acknowledged the compliment with a nod and a smile as she set down her towel on the chair.

"I like yours too," she called back, spying Rei's halter neck red bather. The raven haired girl beamed. Haruka began to shake out her towel and lay it down, hoping no one would question her attire.

Minako rolled over onto one elbow, peering at Haruka through her fringe. "Haruka, don't you have a swimsuit?"

Michiru clamped a hand over her laughing mouth. Haruka froze. She cursed the blonde, her girlfriend and basically the whole world apart from her Princess. "I do," she said stiffly.

"Ooooh!" Makoto squealed, sitting up, waking Nephrite. "Let us see!"

"Yeah," said Usagi, coming back over, feet crusted in sand. "I want to see."

On second thought, she took it back. Her Princess could be cursed too.

Slowly, she unbuttoned her shorts and slipped them off, fighting off the uncharacteristic slight blush that came as she felt everyone's eyes on her. She folded them carefully, taking her time. She paused when it came to her shirt, but Michiru just snapped her fingers and pointed to it.

Haruka peeled the t-shirt off and handed it over to Michiru, who promptly sat on it. Haruka say quickly down on her towel, bringing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, ignoring the girls around her. There was a long pause.

"Wow." Nephrite finally broke the silence. Makoto slapped him on the back.

"You look hot, Haruka-san." Minako said grudgingly, as if she wasn't too happy about acknowledging that someone looked as good as her. Haruka glared at her.

"How do you hide those?" Jadeite asked, his eyes popping. Rei opened her mouth to retaliate but Haruka beat her to it.

Moving as fast as the wind she was senshi of, Haruka stood above Jadeite, looking menacingly down at him, hands clenched into fists. "Shut up," she snarled, "before you say goodbye to that pretty boy face, courtesy of my fist."

"Haruka!"

Jadeite looked back up at her, slightly apprehensive but not particularly scared. Haruka slouched her tense shoulders slightly, not accepting defeat but not willing to anger Michiru. She turned and stalked back. As she did so, she felt a soft hand tap her on the side: looking around, she saw Hotaru's wide eyes smiling at her. "Haruka-poppa," she said innocently, "I think you look very nice."

Haruka stared at her, registering the laughter behind her. She screamed and dropped backwards onto her towel.

Two hours later, she was still wearing the thing but was less angry. The sun had only gotten hotter and, though she would sleep with Jadeite before she admitted it, the damned thing was doing better than her usual beachwear at keeping her cool.

The fierce scowl on her face told another story. She still looked angry, but that only because she wasn't going to say she was wrong. That boy had been watching her for half and hour and in a minute she was going to get up and punch his lights out.

She turned to comment on him to Michiru, only to find that the girl was also looking at her.

"What?" She asked, annoyance in her voice but not in her heart. Michiru just continued to look at her, a calculating expression on her face. Haruka cocked her head to the side. After a second, Michiru handed her back the t-shirt, now rather creased from its ordeal. Haruka took it, feeling confused, her face no doubt perplexed.

"I'm sorry," said Michiru quietly, her eyes turned slightly downwards. Haruka was the only one she ever apologised to. "I thought you might end up enjoying it."

Haruka sighed in defeat. It was not a nice feeling, the guilt that came when she made Michiru feel guilty. There was no need for it, not when Michiru was in the wrong, but that was the problem, wasn't it? Michiru was right, completely and utterly perfect in every way. There was no room in Michiru's existence for wrong, and the guilt was because Haruka was treading on that fact. She was making Michiru wrong.

"I'm not angry at you." She mimicked Michiru's earlier movements and sat on the shirt, her lips curved into a smirk. "You know perfectly well that if I was truly angry I'd be over there with Hotaru, not here with you."

Michiru smiled softly; it told Haruka that she knew she'd been forgiven. A furtive glance around told her that no one was watching (well, apart from that boy, but he didn't count), and so she stretched up to kiss Michiru softly. It was returned and Haruka was forced to break it off before it turned into something more dangerous.

"I might go for a swim." Michiru said a few seconds later as she gazed out at her element. Her eyes seemed almost wistful.

"Yeah." Haruka agreed, then smirked. "You should probably go cool down." A slight smile told her that the message was put across, and the smell of the ocean was what she was left with.

She was alone now and within the hour her clothes had been put back on. She could feel herself burning in the unusual heat, and no amount of guilt tripping was going to make her let that happen. It also stopped that boy from looking (he had been staring harder since that kiss).

Setsuna had retreated quite some time ago, taking Hotaru with her, blaming the sun but Haruka suspected that it was so she would have to build another doomed sandcastle. Usagi and Mamoru had wandered off somewhere, and she didn't even want to know what was taking Makoto, Nephrite and Jadeite so long with the ice cream they had promised. Zoisite had gone in when Ami started racing Michiru: Minako had joined Rei at the rock pools when Kunzite had also wandered back.

Haruka watched as Michiru splashed a laughing Ami. Sometimes she was glad she had someone like Michiru; someone who made her feel guilty, who wasn't afraid to tell her off, because otherwise she'd just go shooting her mouth off. Michiru was beautiful, graceful, kind, and intelligent and how was she supposed to have no fallen in love with someone like that? Plus she was a good swimmer which, Haruka thought with a leer at the very wet Michiru, made her damn flexible.

She was roused from her thoughts by shouts that came from around the cliff, where Rei and Minako were. She heard a man's voice and then Rei's angry one – thinking Jadeite had returned, she ignored it. Then she heard Minako cry out.

Jumping up, she ran towards the noise – and then stopped short. That wasn't Jadeite with his arms around a struggling Rei, and that certainly wasn't Kunzite who was pulling on Minako's wrist, and judging by the terrified expression on the blond girl's face, she didn't know who the man was either. Using surprise to her advantage, she rammed her shoulder into the back of the nearest attacker; he hit the floor with a yell, releasing Rei, who stumbled back out of range.

"Bastard!" The other yelled, running towards her. She ducked his punch and brought a knee up to catch him in the stomach; then she jabbed out a fist to hit him on the jaw. He, too, went down.

Haruka stood over them. "Looked to me that those two didn't want to go anywhere with you."

The first one staggered to his feet. "What's it got to do with you?" He snarled. "Ain't like you're their boyfriend or anything."

He launched himself at her: she took a step to the side, and as he shot by she kicked up a leg into his chest. He fell again, winded. "What's that got to do with it?" Haruka asked, throwing a fist back to break the other's nose as he snuck up on her – she felt the bones crack under her fingers. A hand wrapped around her ankle and pulled her feet out from underneath her. She rolled as she hit the ground and once on her knees she glanced up to see that Rei and Minako had disappeared. "Good," she thought, brushing the sand from her arms.

She got to her feet. She took a step forward towards the two men who refused to leave, when an arm snaked around her neck to hold her in a tight headlock. She froze, breathing heavily through her nose as she tried to work out who had hold of her. She heard – a man's voice, slightly lower, an older voice compared to the two in front of her, who were grinning at him. Their friend? Perhaps their leader? "What do we have here?"

"We don't know," one said through the blood streaming from his nose. "This guy just came out of nowhere and made us let those two girls go."

"Guy?" His free hand ran over her chest before coming to a rest on her breast. She gagged before she began struggling and twisting. He stopped her with a harsh laugh and a tighter hold, which made her gasp. "You two got beaten up so badly by a girl?" One of them growled. "Forget those two. We'll take this one. She seems more fun."

Haruka brought both elbows back into his stomach. He doubled over and she spun out of his grasp. Unfortunately he recovered quickly and as she turned around, both of his hands shot out to fasten tightly around her neck. Gasping, she tried to hit him but was just out of range. It was getting harder to breathe: her hands loosened from around his wrists; her vision swam; her knees gave way from under her.

Then suddenly she was free. She fell onto the hot sand, wheezing. She could just make out Michiru, a large rock clutched in a white knuckled hand. "Michiru," she croaked, and then she couldn't see anything else.

"Haruka!" Michiru fell by the collapsed girl's side, rolled her onto her back and checking for a pulse. "Thank God," she murmured as she felt a steady beat. She closed her eyes in relief.

A rough hand pulled her up by her upper arm. One of the men pressed his face into her; she looked at him coolly. "Bitch!" He screamed, spittle flying from his mouth. "Look at what you did to our boss! You've killed him!" She was about to point out that she'd only hit him with a rock, albeit a large one, when his fist came hurtling towards her face. She closed her eyes and braced herself for the impacts – only it never came.

She opened her eyes. Nephrite had hold of the wrist and she heard the bones crack as he twisted his hand. The man stumbled back towards his comrade.

"What's going on here?" Makoto asked, glancing at Jadeite, who, after helping Michiru up, picked the unconscious Haruka up. She brought her furious gaze back to the two intruders, but they ignored her in favour of eyeing the busy Jadeite and empty-handed Nephrite. "Come on, then." One sneered at the latter. "We can take you." Nephrite felt himself smile – they had clearly not entered Makoto into the equation at all.

Said girl threw herself forward with a yell and shot a fist into the taller man's stomach: he went down choking. Nephrite caught the leg aimed for her back with his hand – with a shake of the head and flick of the wrist, the other hit the sand for the third time. Nephrite shook out the tension in his hand and watched as they tried to get back up. "Don't you ever quit?" He asked in disbelief.

"Mako-chan! Nephrite-san!"

They looked to their left to see Minako leading Kunzite down towards them by the hand. He sped up as he noticed the two strangers. He came to a stop slightly in behind them, and stood, arms folded, looking neutrally at them. He didn't make a noise: he merely glanced at the red faced Makoto, the unconscious Haruka and then back to the men. They yelped and ran off, leaving their precious boss behind.

The first thing she realised when she woke was that her head hurt and she was very uncomfortable. There was also something covering her face, but there was also something on her hand and so she couldn't reach up and brush it away.

Her eyes flickered open. There was a lot of sea green and then Michiru's face came into focus. "Haruka!" she cried, and hugged her.

"Ow!" This was then followed by a lot of cursing as the nerves endings in her neck jumped into life and registered the bruising. Michiru pulled back and twined their fingers together. Haruka sat up, rubbing her head.

"Are you okay, Haruka-san?" Usagi asked quietly, looking quite white. Haruka smiled at her.

"Yeah, kitten, fine."

"Are you sure?" Haruka gave a firm nod in Kunzite's directed. There was silence as she touched the purple bruising around her neck with hesitant fingers, hissing when she pressed too hard.

"I can't believe the senshi of wind was beaten up by some punks – ouch!" Jadeite glared around as he rubbed his arm – Rei, Minako and Nephrite had all hit him.

"Shut up," Haruka told him half heartedly, realising for the first time that they were no longer outside, but that she had been lying on a make shift bed of chairs in the reception area of the hotel. "What happened to them anyway?"

"The two kids ran off." Nephrite said with a scarily satisfied smirk. "We left the leader on a bench somewhere. I hope he wakes up with a concussion."

"Concussion?"

"Michiru-san hit him with a rock!" Ami said with an excited smile. "It was so cool!"

Everyone turned to look at the slightly blushing Michiru. "Oh." Haruka said, looking Michiru in the eyes. The girl smiled and nodded. Haruka smiled back and squeezed her hand harder. Jadeite looked like he was about to say something about that, but then Rei lay her head on his shoulder in exhaustion, and he seemed to forget about everything else.

A shocked Zoisite was told of the incident over dinner, and insisted on looking her over, even though Mamoru had already completed the task. Haruka bore with it fairly well, but his request that she rest for the evening did not go over well. They came to an unhappy conclusion of Haruka lying on the sofa in the games room while everyone else stayed inside and kept her company. Even Kunzite stayed with them, though he sat in the corner with a book most of the night, only complying with one game of snooker with Minako.

After a while, however, Haruka began to feel that she should have taken Zoisite's advice: her head was beginning to hurt, and she felt suddenly quite tired. Michiru seemed to notice that something was wrong. Quietly, she passed her a bottle of water and a packet of tablets, and seemed to understand when Haruka told her that she was going up to bed. She nodded and said that she would go with her.

They walked to their room in relative silence, broken only by Michiru greeting the people walking past them and Haruka then being scolded for not replying to any of them. She just smiled and laughed and continued on each time, suddenly in a good humour. Michiru looked across at her, frowning.

"Do you ever think that we're cursed?" She asked after a minute. Haruka stared at her, a crease between her eyebrows.

"What do you mean?"

"We're on holiday, Haruka, and you were almost strangled."

Haruka grinned. "They were just jealous of my dashing good looks."

Michiru hit her. "Be serious," she said, even as she, herself, began laughing. "You're so full of it," she continued as she pushed the card of their door into the slot.

Haruka abruptly pushed her up against the door, her hands pressed to the wood either side of her face. "You love it, though," she growled, before kissing her hard. Michiru enfolded her waist with one of her arms and pulled her closer; with the other hand she pushed the door handle down. The door flew open and Haruka stumbled, not expecting her wall being pulled away from her. Michiru laughed, pulled her closer into the room and shut the door with her fingertips.