Her Knight

A/N: While I was home on break I felt the need to write a bit of SM fluff. Usually I go for Seiya/Usagi, but I admit Haruka has a special place in my heart too. So I decided she needed a bit of love. And I just happen to also enjoy pairing her with the moon princess. Just a holiday-themed one-shot, albeit a bit delayed. Things got crazy around my holidays so forgive me. And then I came back to campus for my last whirlwind semester. But I finally found time to finish this up! I might have made up a few things to make the story flow, so suspend all your nitty-gritty need for accuracy please. Don't like the pairing, don't read it. All comments and reviews are loved. I haven't had the chance to proofread it, so there might be a few typos/errors. Sorry 'bout that. But enjoy! Comments/reviews are adored.

Usagi loved the snow. It meant the possibility of classes being cancelled. The chance of getting to lob a snowball at Rei's head. Catching snowflakes on her tongue. The perfect excuse to wear that cute sweater and the homemade scarf mama had made her. It had the promise of making snowmen with her friends before going over to Makoto's for warm, homemade hot chocolate.

Uasgi loved the snow.

Usually.

But as she stared out the window at the snow covered wings of the airplane that was supposed to have taken off an hour ago, she suddenly didn't.

She had been in Hokkaido for a few weeks, student teaching at one of the schools there. She had been going to college to become a teacher, and one of the requirements she needed to fulfill before she could graduate was to student teach. Ever since she and Mamoru had broken up she'd felt the need to get away for a while. To escape the worried looks and prying questions and just be by herself to collect her thoughts. Going to spend a few months in Hokkaido, while also making progress on her degree, seemed like the perfect solution. Despite the protests from her friends and family, she had jumped at the chance.

"Attention all passengers of flight 6207 to Juban airport. Due to inclement weather, we have had to cancel the flight. Please accept our deepest apologies. We will work with all of you to find accommodations until the snow storm passes. Please form an orderly line in front of the service desk so that we may assist you. Thank you for understanding."

And now was the first time she regretted going all the way to Hokkaido to student teach. Surely she could have found a school closer to home. Her friends had tried to convince her to do so, but she was so upset over the split with Mamoru she just wanted to get away and have her own space. Thankfully, a school in Hokkaido had accepted her and for her that was far enough away.

Now she wished she had let her friends talk her into staying closer to home. She had endured the hardships of living alone: the cooking for herself (though with many emergency calls to Makoto for her sage cooking advice) and learning to adjust to not being surrounded by her friends. Really she was quite proud of how much she had grown living on her own. But now, she was regretting making the choice she did.

Because now, she very likely was going to miss spending the holidays with them. And that was what she had been most looking forward to for the past few months.

"Oh well," the moon princess heavily sighed, surveying the long faces of her fellow travelers. She knew many of them had it much worse than she. "I better let them know."

Hefting her pink polka-dotted carry-on onto her shoulder, she pulled her cell phone out from the front pocket of her purse and moved into a less crowded area so she could have some quiet. Most of the stranded passengers were all lined up in front of the service desk anyway. For a moment, she paused and looked at the stressed face of the poor woman behind the desk. It wasn't just the travelers' holidays that were getting ruined by this storm.

"I hope no one is rude to her," Usagi thought as she dialed the number so familiar by now she didn't even need to look it up in her contacts.

The plan was to fly into Juban and get picked up by one of the girls to be taken to Haruka's new apartment where all of the senshi were supposed to be spending the holidays. Her own family had decided to take a trip out of the country for the holidays, and with Usagi in Hokkaido it didn't make sense for them to wait for her to get home. Now that she was stranded, she was even more thankful. She wouldn't have wanted to ruin their whole vacation. They all deserved it, especially Shingo who had been studying so hard for his entrance exams.

"I just hope they bring me back a souvenir," Usagi said faintly to herself, smiling as the phone pressed against her ear began to ring.

Michiru and Haruka had split a few months ago. It hadn't been a big, messy breakup. Just quiet, with each woman leaving the other on good terms. Everyone figured it was only a matter of time before they got back together and from what Usagi had learned from the others, she agreed with that sentiment.

Despite the breakup, Michiru was supposed to be there for the holidays at Haruka's just like everyone else. After being away from home for so long, Usagi was looking forward to being with them all.

But apparently the weather had other plans.

It was the fiery blonde's number she had dialed, having called quite a few times when she felt lost and lonely in Hokkaido. No matter the time of day, Haruka had always picked up. And just as always, after the third ring, Usagi heard the familiar, "Koneko-chan!"

Smiling, Usagi turned and leaned back against the wall. "Ohayou, Haruka-san." She said, trying to add the usual measure of cheer to her voice to keep her friend from fretting too much.

Apparently though, this time it didn't work.

"What's wrong?" Haruka demanded immediately, and Usagi could picture her getting all tense on the other end of the line.

Usagi couldn't even sigh to be outted so quickly. Instead, she just laughed. "Maa, Haruka-san you know me too well."

On the other end, Haruka wasn't buying it. Her lips were pulled into a severe frown as she moved over to her computer to pull up the flight confirmations numbers she'd been sent earlier in the week. "Shouldn't you be on your plane…?" She asked faintly, frowning at the page taking a painfully long time to load.

"That's why I'm calling," Usagi sighed, closing her eyes. "The weather here is too bad for the plane to take off. They've cancelled the flight, and most other ones out of the airport. I don't know when I'll get the chance to come home." She tried to not let the sadness seep into her voice, but even she wasn't buying it.

Things had been rough, and she'd been so lonely. Sure she'd made a few friends there, but they just couldn't compare to her friends back home. The thought of finally getting to go home had kept her going through the long nights of lesson planning and grading.

And now that ray of hope had been snuffed out by a snow storm.

"Usagi…" Haruka's voice was soft, able to pick up on the sadness in her princesses' voice all too easily. "I'm sorry." And even she had a hard time keeping the disappointment out of her voice.

"It's alright!" Usagi said, the fake cheeriness seeping back into her voice. "They're setting all of the passengers up with hotel rooms, so I'll get a sort of mini-vacation," she exclaimed, trying her best to find some bit of silver-lining in the snow cloud.

"Yeah? Well I hope it's a nice hotel," Haruka muttered, a bit grumpy now that she wouldn't get to see Usagi for Christmas.

"I'm sure it will be. Don't worry."

"Make sure you lock your door."

"I will."

"Good. How long is the wait?"

"Mmm," Usagi paused as she glanced over to the desk and the still impressively long line. "Probably a while."

"Alright." The word came in a sigh. "Why don't I let you go get in line so you can get settled in? I'll break the news to the others. When you get into your room, call me again okay? I want your hotel name and room number."

Usagi laughed, shaking her head even though Haruka couldn't see it. "I'll be fine Haruka. I've been living on my own for months now you know."

"I know, I know," Haruka said, grumbling a little.

"Tell them all I'm sorry?" Usagi requested, her voice threatening to crack. "I'll be home soon as I can."

"I will, and they'll know that Usagi. Don't worry about us. Just remember to call me when you're settled in okay?"

"I will, Haruka. I promise."

"Stay safe, Koneko-chan."

And the line went dead, leaving a heavily sighing moon princess staring at the screen of her cell phone through blurry eyes.

"It'll be fun," she muttered, lifting a hand to wipe at her eyes. "I bet it's a real nice hotel. Maybe that one I passed on the way in…" Indulging in daydreams, she walked over to take her place in line. She wouldn't even look out the window now. The sky showed no signs of letting up and she wasn't feeling horribly optimistic about the whole thing.

After a long two hours, Usagi opened the door to her hotel room and stepped inside. It would have been sooner, but she'd let a family with young children go ahead of her. They looked like they needed a warm bed much more than she did.

Shutting, and locking, the door behind her, Usagi wandered into the room. Looking around, she managed a faint smile. "Well it's nice." She said happily, setting her bags by the foot of the bed before turning and falling back onto the bed with a content sigh.

Already sleep was threatening to drag her under, so she pushed herself from the embrace of the bed before she nodded off. Moving over to the edge of the bed, she grabbed her cell from her purse and punched in a quick text message to Haruka.

It was short and simple: She was too tired to call. Her hotel name. And her hotel number.

Leaving her phone to rest on the nightstand beside her, Usagi crawled beneath the covers and curled up. The only thing she had unpacked from her bags was her stuffed bunny, now tightly clutched to her chest as she slipped happily asleep.

The day brought no encouraging news, and it was only at dinner time Usagi finally left her room. The hotel had planned a nice Christmas dinner for all the guests stranded there from the storm, and the moon princess figured she could do with a little cheering up.

The hotel restaurant was glittering when she stepped foot inside and it was hard not to smile at the sight of it all. Couples smiling at each other, children running around playing. It was all as if there weren't all stranded away from family and friends.

It was nice. Maybe she couldn't be with her own friends, but she could still feel her heart warmed by the happiness of those around her.

There was music and food. So much food. The sweets table especially kept calling Usagi back to visit and though she could hear Rei making oinking noises in her head, she decided that if there ever was a time to spoil herself a little it was then.

She chatted with the other guests and made a few friends, played with some of the children and taught them how to make origami snowflakes.

It was during one such lesson she felt eyes on her. Frowning, she looked up from her lesson and looked around trying to spot who found her so interesting. None of the faces she scanned looked familiar, until she got to the corner of the room.

The snowflake she was folding slipped from her grasp and she stopped to stare and blink a few times. Slowly, she got to her feet and walked over, still waiting for what she was sure was an illusion to disappear from her vision.

"Haruka…?"

The closer she got, the more sure she was she wasn't just imagining things.

The slow pace of her steps broke out into a run as she threw herself into her arms. "Haruka!"

Grinning, the blond enveloped the younger woman into her arms and held her tightly. "Couldn't let you spend the holiday alone, koneko-chan." Haruka murmured, hand rubbing over Usagi's back.

"B-But how did you get here?!" Usagi asked, looking up at her but not making any move to try and get away.

A smirk played over the older woman's lips as she looked over the princess bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Did you really think I'd let a little snow keep me from you?" She asked, hand coming up and pushing some hair out of Usagi's eyes.

"I thought…I mean…" Stammering, trying to find a response she came up short. How in the world had Haruka managed to get all the way to Hokkaido?

Smirking even more, the older woman placed a finger over Usagi's lips. "Why don't we just enjoy the holiday together?" And with a wink, Haruka pulled her back into the group, her arm wrapped around the waist of the princess.

"Think you can have a nice Christmas now?" Haruka asked, settling closer to the princess and keeping her pressed close.

In the background, soft music began to play, calling other couples out onto the dance floor.

"I know so," Usagi smiled, letting herself be guided out onto the dance floor by Haruka's hand.