Here is the first chapter of my newest story: Dreamers awake. This story will be a pretty long piece and I try to update regularly. Please let me know what you think. I always appreciate to get some reviews...My aplogies for any spelling or grammar mistakes...

Chapter 1

She panted heavily while running through the crowd at the arcade and mumbled apologies to whomever she was accidently bumping into on her way through. There were plenty of people shopping today, but she shouldn't wonder about that. It was weekend after all and the shops were tempting their potential customers with low prices. But she wasn't here today for shopping. She was going to meet her friends. And she was already late. And Ami Mizuno was never late. But today cram school had taken longer than expected. Their instructor Kishimura-sensei had been stuck in a traffic jam and therefore arrived 30 minutes late to begin with. The always strict sensei had insisted that they would do longer to compensate for the lost time. So, her already tight time schedule had been overthrown and she was now running to at least save some of her reputation of never being late. Still she could already hear the teasing of Minako and probably even Rei. At least she was sure that she wouldn't be the last. Usagi being punctual would probably announce the end of the world. She skidded around a corner and nearly collided with a small child holding a colorful bunny balloon but managed in the last minute to avoid running straight into her. Ami stopped shortly to apologize when she saw the frightened eyes of the small girl before she hurried to continue on her way. She was almost there. Her goal was neither one of the many boutiques or clothing stores nor the ice cream parlor they usually met. Today she was aiming for a special facility in the mall she had never entered before. The art gallery. Therefore, she stopped and tried to labor her breathing. She was already late anyway and didn't want to arrive there looking like she had lost in a marathon.

She had to admit that she would prefer not to be here. Technically speaking she had been rather reluctant to go there to begin with. It was probably just her depressing mood today paired with a fact that almost nobody knew not even her friends. She did not like to visit art exhibitions. It was kind of expected of the well-educated Ami to be a fan of art as well. Well, she wasn't. Yes, she liked good music and even occasionally poems but usually she had no time for this kind of distraction. And every time she was tempted to indulge in something more artistic there was always a kind of a barrier that stopped her from pursuing it further. Normally everything that Ami started Ami finished no matter the obstacles in her way. That was just who she was. She hated unsolved problems and she would put all her energy and time in it until she achieved whatever she aimed for. But with art it was different. She didn't want to indulge in that. That's why she never started with it again, because she wasn't sure whether she would be able to stop. And she knew exactly what happened, when you were not able to stop. Today would be a reminder of that. A reminder she would have preferred not to have. But sometimes she simply had to go against her personal wishes. For her friends. Making them happy was something on the top of Ami's priority list. That is why she had reluctantly agreed when Michiru invited her and the others personally to this evening exhibition, where she would present her newest paintings for the first time.

All the Outers would be here as well even Setsuna who normally was occupied at the time gate most of the times they wanted to go out together. The relation of the Inners to the Outers had become slightly better after the Galaxia incident. First, there were some insecurities especially coming from Haruka and Michiru who avoided them for some time. They thought they wouldn't be welcome anymore. The reason was of course their faked betrayal to trick Galaxia. They felt responsible for killing Saturn and Pluto as well as attacking Usagi. In the process they punished themselves for it by staying away from the others. But Usagi wouldn't tolerate any of it. She had personally gone to the Outers home and invited them to her birthday party at the Shrine with the threat of severe punishment by their princess, in case they didn't show up. Although her threats can be usually overlooked as feeble, they took this one serious and attended.

After some awkward hours of forced politeness, the ice finally broke after Usagi tripped over her own feet and in the process of falling, dumped her birthday cake straight into Haruka's face. All of them especially Minako were rolling on the floor laughing seeing Haruka's puzzled expression while the strawberry crème dripped from her chin. Even Setsuna tried to hide her grin. Makoto immediately offered some spare clothes, while Usagi was apologizing constantly, fuzzing over Haruka like a mother hen. Michiru and Rei started teasing Haruka nuts, while Minako quickly took a photograph. This resulted in Haruka losing her patience and trying to wrestle the camera from Minako's hands. Rei was involved in this mess by a random knee embedding itself in her stomach for just being in the way, while Ami was hit by a toppled over plant spilling her drink all over Michiru, who shrieked because it had been hot coffee. Consequently, she had jumped up startled, which caused Usagi, who had tried to interfere, to trip over her leg. In a last rescue attempt to avoid falling, she had gripped the tablecloth. Hotaru in the meantime had the best time of her life just watching the whole ordeal and Setsuna wisely kept herself at a safe distance. After everyone had calmed down and the Shrine looked like a war zone, they just laughed and the atmosphere had changed to a relaxed and goofy teasing game, that kept everyone in a splendid mood until the party ended. After that night, everything was like it should have been from the beginning. The Senshi united to stand together. There were still major differences between them, but nothing would stop them from being friends anymore. There was still an invisible line between the Outers and the Inners, but it had become remarkably thinner.

Ami smiled at the memory. Yes, things had been good lately. No new enemies and finally some time to enjoy the hard won peace. Now she had no reason to be Mercury, just Ami and she was glad. To be finally able to live her dreams made her doubts and worries about coming to Michiru's art exhibition trivial.

Finally, she turned around the last corner and spotted her friends forming a small crowd that already drew some attention due to Usagi's and Rei's loud bickering. Makoto was the first noticing her presence and greeted her by waving enthusiastically. Ami smiled and hurried to reach them. As expected Haruka and Michiru were missing.

"Hey Ami, we were really perplexed that Usagi arrived before you did…" Makoto greeted her. Oh no, she would never hear the end of it.

"We really thought some stray Youma got you." And there it started with Rei being the first trying to get her flustered.

"Or a whole bunch of them. One would not be nearly enough to cause Ami Mizuno to be late…" Minako teased with a slight grin.

Ami sighed while trying in vain to stop blushing. "Sorry guys, cram school took longer than expected."

Makoto finally showed some mercy. "Yeah, we already guessed. Now we can finally go in. Michiru already made quite a fuss so Haruka went ahead to calm her down. She is quite nervous."

Now, Ami felt quite guilty. She didn't want to be the cause of one of her friend's worry. Especially not Michiru. She had always held a huge amount of admiration for her and the furthest thing she wanted to do was to disappoint her in some way. "Sorry, I would have called, but my phone's battery went dead an hour ago. And I didn't want to use the pager and make you worry…" They had agreed once that the use of their Senshi communicators was restricted only to emergencies and Senshi business, but not for daily life.

The others seemed a little bit stunned. Usually something like that never happened to Ami. And they were right. It usually didn't. But yesterday she forgot to charge her phone overnight. Probably because she had waited so long for his message last evening and dozed off with the phone still on her pillow. However, she wouldn't tell them anything about that. It was best if she didn't even think about that.

Usagi's friendly voice cut into her brooding thoughts. "Don't worry. Everything is fine. You are here now. But I have never seen Michiru so fidgety. Normally, she is the epitome of calmness and grace."

"Must have something to do with the guy she is working." All stares suddenly focused on Rei.

"The guy?" Minako chimed in overly excited. "Did I miss something or has Haruka lost some of her charm?"

Rei just rolled her eyes. "No. Nothing like that, but she told me that this exhibition is a cooperation between her and another remarkable painter she has met somewhere. She was so impressed by him, that she asked him to do a co-ed exhibition for both of their recent work."

"This guy must be really something. It is not easy to impress Michiru." Makoto stated.

"Or to make her nervous." Minako wiggled her eyebrows.

"I only know him to be Japanese, too. Doesn't like to be too much in the focus or the press and stuff, although his work seems to be praised by everyone, who is important in the arts. Michiru told me he lives quite secluded so that he can focus solely on his work."

Ami frowned, but no one seemed to notice. Great, just another eccentric artist, who thought, painting is the epitome of life. As if a picture could save lives, build houses or feed children. As if it wasn't something just for showing off or fleeing to a fictional world that had nothing to do with reality.

"Sounds pretty weird to me. But I am no artist that needs to hide away." Minako shrugged. "I belong on a stage."

They all ignored that comment. In these situations, it was better not to boost Minako's ego or you will be stuck in one of her glorious monologues for hours. They all had to learn that the hard way and none of them wanted to repeat that experience.

"Oh look, there is Michiru." Usagi suddenly shouted.

"Not so loud. You are supposed to behave like some high-class stuck-up prig here. Don't embarrass Michiru by yelling around like an idiot." Rei chided.

"Sorry, but shouldn't we talk to her. Maybe we get a private tour and she shows us around a bit…"

"You just want to look important." Rei started to quarrel.

"I am important. I am your princess and the future queen of Crystal Tokyo. The queen, you will bow before, to be precise." Usagi countered proudly sticking out her tongue at Rei.

"The gods may save us when that day comes." Rei sighed theatrically.

"You are so mean, Rei." Usagi pouted.

Ami's mood lightened a bit given their typical banter. She just looked around at the many paintings adorning the walls. She clearly recognized Michiru's style. Most of them displayed as expected the ocean, submarine life or astonishing coastlines sometimes mixed with mystical beings such as nymphs or lively water spirits. They also showed impressive thunder storms, the powerful tides or the glittering sun refracting in the water droplets. Some of them also portrayed the clouds and she was even able to give the wind an almost corporal look. They were beautiful. Even she had to admit that. Still she tried not to linger too much on one of the paintings. A brief look was all she needed or better all she wanted.

Michiru had finally spotted them and gracefully glided over. When was she ever anything but graceful? She looked happy to see them, but her eyes seemed to search for something else. Probably Haruka, Ami guessed. She hadn't seen the racer so far.

"You guys all made it."

"Of course. We would never miss it." Usagi beamed. Her bright smile warmed Ami's heart as it did Michiru's. All the Senshi would die for that smile. In fact they already did and would do so without a second thought again.

"Your paintings are stunning as always, Michiru." Makoto stated enthusiastically. The others nodded, Ami included and she had not even to fake that.

"Yeah, I like my newest projects as well, but you should see Kuro-san's work. They are really great."

Ami stiffened. No, this could only be a coincidence. Wasn't it? She looked around. He couldn't be here, could he? Then her eyes traveled to one of the paintings. This one wasn't Michiru's, she realized immediately. The brush strokes were different, the colors more washed out and the beaming light in it almost seemed corporal. But still it looked familiar. Her eyes traveled to the lower left corner, where she found the signature. Her breath hitched and her heart rate suddenly sped up. Damn.

Suddenly, Michiru announced. "Ah, there he is. Let me introduce you."

The others followed Michiru only Ami seemed to be rooted to the spot. But Minako just grabbed her arm and dragged her along.

"Come on, Ami. No daydreaming with open eyes. You can calculate the number of pi another time or you miss the best part of getting to know the hottie who managed to make Michiru all excited."

Ami had no chance to protest, when they neared the two people chatting in front of an especially huge painting about the Fuji. She spotted Haruka immediately. Of the other man only his back was visible. But she recognized this long midnight black hair held in a loose ponytail. Her chest painfully constricted. No. Not here. Not now. She was not ready for this.

"Kuro-san. Let me introduce some friends of mine to you." Michiru interrupted their conversation.

He turned to greet them properly.

"Kuro Motaki. These are Usagi, Rei, Makoto, Minako, Setsuna, Hotaru and…"

"Ami…" he whispered suddenly completely ignoring all of them, just staring at her.

Ami was totally shell-shocked and didn't move at all, when he suddenly embraced her. She just went stiff like a board and didn't even notice the astonished looks of her friends and Usagi's confused "What..."

Kuro smiled gently at her. "An introduction is hardly necessary here. You have grown quite a bit, sweetheart."

"Hello dad." Ami stated wearily.