author: Samantha
Rating: PG
Timeline: Parallel
Notes/Summary: Haruka meets her guardian deity. A crossover fic between Sailormoon and my anime "Element Dreaming." You don't have to know much about it except the fact that there are warriors who represent the elements.
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Deity
Michiru opens the door of the car, steps out and stretches. She smells the fresh air and fragrant blossoms around her and sighs. The sun shines and a gentle breeze rustles the treetops. "Heaven. This place really is heaven."
"Only with you here, Michiru."
She smiles as her fiancee's arms encircle her waist and pull her close. "Oh really now? I can't count the times you've snuck off down here by yourself. I doubt it's not heavenly then."
"Well, I get to walk the whole way. It's not the same experience when I have to drive."
"So now you're making fun of me?"
"No, I just don't see why we couldn't have walked." Haruka leans her head atop the shorter girl's.
"After that horrible rainstorm last night? The path's one huge river of mud! I'm not walking in that."
"And messing up your pretty new dress. I know." She squeezes her girlfriend a little tighter and puts her face next to hers. "But when we come here in the car there's no good excuse to shower together when we get back."
Michiru giggles at the comment. "Haruka, you're excuse enough to take a shower with anytime of the day or night."
Haruka can't help but smile as they embrace hands and begin walking toward the pond.
"Haruka," Michiru questions after a few minutes, "why do you come down here so much by yourself? I mean, I understand communing with your element, but...well, when I feel like 'speaking' with the ocean, the best place is right on the shore. But the wind is everywhere. I can't see why this forest is any different from our balcony."
"Michiru..." Haruka just stares at the ground for the longest time before lifting her gaze to the sky ahead and answering. "My location doesn't really matter as much as privacy. If I know I'm completely alone it's easier to get myself into that delicate state of mind. I can open myself up to the wind as it can to me if we know there won't be an interference. That allows me to become so much more intimate with my element if I know the only one I'm exposing so much of myself to is my guardian deity. The only one who will never hurt or betray me."
Michiru squeezes her lover's hand and leans against her. "I'll never hurt you in any way, Haruka. You can always come to me no matter what it is. Remember that."
"I know that, Michiru. I've known that for a very long time," Haruka smiles.
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After a while more of walking, Haruka and Michiru come to a large pond hidden within the forest's tall trees. Because of the plants, the water is shaded nicely from the sun, leaving it warm but not burning from the sun's rays. A small row boat is tied to a dock at the shallows of the pond.
Michiru walks up to the water's edge and stirs the water around a bit with her hand. "It's very warm." She turns to her partner and grins mischievously. "I'm not really up for a boat ride. I think we should take a swim instead."
Haruka crosses her arms and smiles lopsidedly. "Michiru, I agreed to take you out in the boat, not take you in the pond."
"Aww. Well, I tried."
Haruka rolls her eyes and guides her out onto the dock and toward the boat. As soon as Michiru steps in, a large, bat-like creature swoops out of the sky and grabs Haruka by the neck and holds her over the middle of the pond.
"Haruka!" Michiru reaches for her henshin pen. 'But I have a feeling this youma is not like the ones we've fought before.'
"Where is the Element Guardian?" the demon shouts.
Haruka gasps for air and can neither answer nor search for her henshin pen. "Na-nani?"
Without warning, thousands of wooden splinters are stabbed into the youma and it drops Haruka. She braces herself for the impact against the water, but it never comes. A dark sphere of energy surrounds her and keeps her from hitting the water. Michiru frantically searches for the source of the power. On the opposite side if the lake she sees a female figure hidden in the shade of the trees.
Meanwhile, the youma rids itself, painfully, of the wood in its body and turns to the girl. She lifts her hand with a red shining jewel in her palm. "Hi!" The jewel shines brightly and sparks ignite in mid air to form large flames attempting to burn the creature. It dodges every fireball and flies into the sky to send dark fireballs against the girl. She raises a blue crystal. "Mizu!" Water from the pond raises and extinguishes the enemy flames, then tries to engulf the youma unsuccessfully.
The mysterious girl curses and summons a purple crystal. "It's a flying demon, so the wind could easily consume it." She holds the crystal to her lips and gently blows on it. A ghostly human form emits from it and comes alive when the girl allows the jewel to attach itself as a brooch on her chest. The new woman floats in the air and closes her eyes. The winds over the pond blow more fiercely and soon the demon becomes trapped in a whirlwind and is tossed away into the air. The girl smiles and nods her head then turns to leave.
"Matte!" Michiru had run to the other side of the pond to meet her. "Please, I don't know who you are or why you helped us, but please release Haruka."
The silver-haired girl blinks and looks out to the middle of the pond where Haruka still sits trapped in the sphere. She laughs, embarrassed, and directs the ball in their direction, sitting Haruka gently on the ground. "I'm sorry. Sometimes I forget to finish what I do."
"Daijoubu."
She smiles and bows, planning to walk away, but pauses when noticing her friend's gaze fixed on Haruka. The blonde stares back, also in a sort of trance.
"You...controlled the wind."
"I am the wind."
Haruka feels anger, respect and envy for the purple-haired and -eyed woman. "Who are you?"
She only hesitates a second before answering. "Element Crystal Guardian Wind."
"Kaze..."
Michiru moves closer to her partner, who's eyes remain fixed on Wind. Haruka lifts a hand toward her slowly, overwhelming feelings filling her heart. Wind gazes back and raises her own hand to touch Haruka's. A similar energy surges through them, filling another missing piece of the blonde's heart.
"Uranus."
Michiru gasps, completely shocked and lost as to who either girl is, not having any idea how she knew Haruka's Senshi identity.
"Kaze." As soon as Haruka speaks, the first girl pulls Wind back into the crystal.
"Gomen nasai." She runs into the forest and out of the girls' sight.
"Matte! Come back!" Michiru calls. She turns to Haruka to find the blonde with tears creeping down her face but smiling slightly. "Haruka, what's wrong?" She notices the wind Senshi gazing at the last spot Wind appeared; the tears are of joy. "Haruka? Who was that?"
Haruka slowly turns her head to Michiru. "My guardian deity."
