Disclaimer: The characters in this story do not belong to me, but to Takeuchi Naoko. I take no credit for them.
Author's Notes: I'm American...I don't speak Japanese. So if I have messed up on any of the names or endings or phrases, gomen nasai. I did try:)
Dedication: As with stories I have written before, this is for Joseph. The Angel to my Cordelia...the Buffy to my Willow....and who knows? Maybe even the Haruka to my Michiru:)
************
To Fight For You
by Kristen Elizabeth
************
The sketchpad was heavy on her lap. She wanted to put it in the car's backseat, but feared to lose the loose drawings to the strong wind. Sighing, she held one hand over the thick book. With the other hand, she gathered her shoulder length turquoise hair up and held it in a loose bun. It only took seconds before the wind tore long strands free and they again whipped against her face.
"Should I put the top up?" The familiarity of the throaty voice next to her made her smile.
"No, Ruka-chan. I'm fine. It's just hair."
Her girlfriend took her eyes from the road for a moment and winked. "But it's beautiful hair."
A girlish blush spread on her porcelain cheeks. "Even all tousled like this?"
"Especially all tousled like that."
With a content expression, she lowered her hand and let her hair go. "I love you, Ruka-chan."
There was an empty pause. "I'm...uh...crazy about you too, Michi-ko."
She looked over at her girlfriend's tomboyishly lovely profile. Her jaw was set; her eyes didn't waver from the road. "You're crazy about me", she echoed. "That's all?"
Another pause followed. "What do you want me to say, Michiru?"
The use of her full name took her back slightly. She blinked. "I want you to tell me that you love me, Ruka-chan."
"I have", her girlfriend snapped back. Then, she softened. "I have said....that."
"No, you haven't." She twisted her body to the left to see her partner better. "You've never said it. You can't even hear talk about it, can you?"
A sigh of annoyance. "Can we discuss this later?"
"No, Haruka." Her tone was pointed. "We can't discuss this later."
Her eyes left the road. "Michi..."
"Ruka-chan!!!"
"I hear you, Michi-ko. You don't have to yell."
"Ruka....look out!!!!"
*************************
Tsukino Usagi looked up at the tall stone building. It seemed to never end, reaching towards the sky as though it could touch the stars. Or the planets themselves. She swallowed a lump that formed deep in her throat.
"I would do anything to not have to go in there", she said aloud.
A strong arm wrapped around her shoulder. She felt her boyfriend, Chiba Mamoru, at her side. The warmth of his body was as comforting as the words he spoke. "Usa-ko, if you don't want to go...."
Usagi shook her long, blond ponytails. "No, Mamo-chan. They're my friends..." She looked up at him. "I have to."
He smiled, although his handsome face didn't completely lose the sad expression it had worn for the past two days. Ever since....
"Usagi-chan!!" Behind them, Usagi heard the familiar voice of her best friend, Kino Makoto, approaching them.
"Mako-chan", she greeted the taller girl. "Are you here to see....?"
Makoto nodded. "Rei and Minako are already up there with them."
Mamoru stuffed his hands deep into the pockets of his black pants. "How are they?", he asked.
"Maintaining", Makoto replied. "No better, no worse. Ami-chan says the doctors aren't quite sure what to do for them."
Usagi felt her eyes filling with tears. Before they could spill over, she said, "Let's go up."
Mamoru took her small hand in his. "It's going to be tough, Usa-ko."
"I owe it to them", was all she said.
**************
After a stop at the nurse's station to obtain vistor ID's, the three friends piled into the hospital's elevator and rode it in silence to the fifth floor. When the doors opened, the smells of medicine hit them. Mamoru closed his eyes briefly. How he hated hospitals. He had lost his parents in one...had spent much of his lonely childhood in another. He wanted to take the elevator back down....to get out of the building and breath fresh air. Only Usagi's hand, fingers intwined with his, kept him there.
"Room 531", Makoto repeated from memory, leading them down the wide corridor. "529, 530.....531." She stopped in front of one closed door. Beside the frame, two medical charts rested in bins built for them. Usagi could read the names on each. Kaiou and Ten'ou. She tightened her grip on Mamoru.
"What are we waiting for?", she whispered. Taking a deep breath, she reached out and twisted the door knob.
Hino Rei jumped up from her spot on a hard-looking armchair when they entered the room. "Usagi-chan, Mamoru-san, Mako.....wow, I didn't expect to see all of you at once."
Usagi smiled tightly. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the two beds that occupied most of the room...and the two figures lying in them. "Where's Minako-chan?"
"She walked Michiru-san's parents down to their car; she'll be back in a minute. I'm surprised you didn't run into them outside."
Makoto slowly walked over to the beds. "*I'm* surprised they left before visting hours were over."
Rei lifted her long, black hair off of her neck. "Well, they had a big business function or something." She let her hair fall. "I think they'd rather be anywhere but here."
"It can't be easy for them....to see their daughter like this." Mamoru looked at the bed's occupants.
Drawing all her internal senshi strength, Usagi forced herself to look as well. What she saw made her stomach drop. Kaiou Michiru lay in the bed closest to the door. Her aquamarine locks fanned across the pillow, but her lithe body was frighteningly still, save for the rise and fall of her chest with machine-forced breath. A white bandage covered most of her sculpted forehead; her eyes were closed. A few feet away, Ten'oh Haruka lay in the second bed. She too was unconcious; the trim body that longed for speed was motionless; her boyishly cut tan hair lay listless. Haruka's serene face was marred with several cuts and bruises and her left arm was encased in a cast.
"They just look like they're sleeping." Usagi's tears spilled over onto her cheeks. "Oh...why did this happen to them, Mamo-chan? Why?"
Mamoru embraced his girlfriend. "It was an accident, Usa-ko. A horrible accident. There is no explanation."
Makoto nodded her agreement. "The policeman said Haruka-san couldn't possibly have seen the other car until it was too late. "
"It wasn't her fault", Rei continued. "It wasn't anybody's fault."
"What about the other driver?" Usagi broke away from Mamoru. "Huh? What about him? He could have seen Haruka-chan's car! He could have slowed down!! I hope he goes to jail for the rest of his life."
Rei placed a calming hand on her friend's shoulder. "Usagi-chan...he's dead."
Usagi's tiny body slumped back against Mamoru. "Oh..." She closed her eyes. "I didn't know...."
The door opened suddenly. Aino Minako entered the room along with Mizuno Ami. Both girls looked surprised to see their friends. "Look who I found downstairs, Rei-chan." Minako gestured to Ami. "Looks like you got some company, too."
"The more, the merrier", Rei said. Realizing their situation, she flushed bright red. "I mean...well, you know what I mean...."
There was a long pause. "I just wish there was something we could do", Makoto finally said, balling up her fist in frustration. "We have all this power, but we can't do a damn thing to help them."
Usagi's reply was muffled by Darien's sweater, pressed against her cheek. "My first thought was to use Moon Healing Activation...." She sobbed. "But I don't have that power anymore."
"We don't know that it would have worked anyways", Mamoru comforted her. "It might have done more harm than good."
"What about Setsuna-san?", Minako spoke up. Her blue eyes were bright with hope. "Maybe she could fold time back to a point where we could warn Haruka-san!"
"If only I could", a low voice from the open door replied. All heads swung to see the newcomer. Meiou Setsuna stood in the doorway, eyes downcast. Her sorrow was overwhelming. "I'm not at liberty to use time like that. Besides..." She looked up and pushed a strand of dark green hair away from her eyes. "All things, good or bad, have a purpose."
Rei's eyes flashed. "You're saying there's a reason our friends are in comas, hooked up to machines to stay alive?" The older Sailor Senshi nodded. "I can't believe that! Haruka-san and Michiru-san don't deserve this!!"
"No one thinks they deserve this, Rei-chan", Ami corrected her friend. "Setsuna-san is only saying that this is part of their destiny. Right?"
Setsuna nodded again. "This is something they must go through. Only when they have withstood it, will their destinies ever truly be fulfilled."
Usagi shook her head. "I don't understand you, Setsuna-san."
An unexpected chuckle escaped Setsuna's pink lips. "You will someday. For now, that's all I can say." She walked over to her fellow Outer Senshi and stood between their beds. "No matter how unfair it may seem, this isn't our battle right now. It's theirs......"
****************
Haruka felt the light through the darkness before she ever saw it. Warm and sweet, it caressed her, drawing her nearer to it. It wanted to take her within its embrace and never let go. She found herself reaching for it...
An image flashed through her mind. Waves of sea green hair.....sapphire eyes that could tell more in one look than a million of her sweet words ever could.....delicate fingers that danced across a violin or a canvas.....
"Michi", she heard herself whisper. "I won't go without Michi." Before the words were completely out of her mouth, the light began to fade. Where there had been warmth, there was now only a cold wind. Wrapping her arms tight around her body, Haruka looked at her surroundings. But her beautiful partner was nowhere in sight. "Michi!", she cried out. "Where are you?"
"She's not here, Sailor Uranus."
Haruka swung around to see who had spoken to her. Standing a few feet away in the darkness, visible only by a weak shaft of light, she saw Queen Serenity. Her long blond ponytails hung to the train of her sheer white dress; she looked exactly as Haruka could almost remember her having looked during the Silver Millenium. "My Queen", she whispered. Then, her voice hardened. "Where's Michiru?"
The Queen's hands were clasped to her heart, just as Michiru often held hers. "Sailor Neptune fights the battle unequal to any other battle."
"What do you mean, Serenity-sama?"
She closed her twinkling eyes. "She fights for her life."
Haruka's blood ran cold. "Michi...."
"She's dying."
"No." Haruka's eyes narrowed. "I won't let her. I will fight and I will save her."
Queen Serenity looked at her Outer Senshi with an expression of regret. "Gomen nasai, Sailor Uranus. I'm sorry.....it's not your place to save her. You have your own battle to fight, your own life to save."
"But...I'm fine! I'm not dying, Serenity-sama."
"You're sure of this?"
Haruka looked down at her body, clothed in the familiar suit of a Sailor Senshi. "Yes....the light...I fought it off...."
Serenity nodded. "You did. And how did you do it?"
"Michiru." Haruka swallowed heavily. "I thought of my Michi-ko."
"And that is how she will win her battle. The thought of you." Serenity paused. "Let her fight it."
Haruka shook her head violently. "What if she loses? If she dies...." A tear collected in the corner of her eye.
"These things have already been decided, my dear Uranus. By a power greater than myself."
"Please, Serenity-sama." Haruka brushed the tear away with one gloved hand. "Take me to her. I need to see her."
The Queen took a long time to answer. "Very well, Uranus. But remember....what she fights to save is her own life. Therefore, she must battle alone."
Haruka nodded. "Yes, Serenity-sama."
"Take my hand." The Queen stretched out one perfect arm. Haruka placed her hand in the Queen's. "And close your eyes." The cold wind picked up speed and intensity; it blew the short locks of tan hair around Haruka's face. After a moment, it died down. "You can open them now", Serenity said.
Slowly, Haruka obeyed. Before her, yards away in the black that surrounded them, she saw her love. The light was upon Michiru, illuminating her beautiful face...casting shadows with the perfect curves of her body. She took Haruka's breath away.
But, she was afraid at the same time. The light around her girlfriend was becoming brighter...and yet, Michiru didn't fight it. She just let it envelop her body; her bare arms reached for its warmth.
"Michiru!!", Haruka shouted. "Don't go!! Fight it!! Please, fight it!!!"
*****************
"Oh no!!" Ami put a hand to her throat. "Look at their monitors!!"
All eyes in the room immediately swung to the two beeping heart monitors hanging over Michiru and Haruka's beds.
Minako bit her lip. "Haruka-san's is beating really fast...much faster than it was awhile ago. That's good, right?"
"I don't know", Rei answered. "It doesn't look so good."
"Michiru-san", Usagi whispered. "Her beats are getting slower and slower."
Setsuna's chin touched her chest. "We might be losing her."
"Not in this lifetime!!", Makoto shouted. "Get a doctor, Ami-chan!!" The blue haired girl made a move for the door, but Setsuna stepped in front of her.
"No." The Senshi of Pluto crossed her arms over her chest. "Whatever will be, will be."
"I will not sit here and just let a Sailor Senshi...my friend, die, Setsuna-san", Makoto yelled back, her voice dangerous. "Destiny or not!!"
"It's not your decision to make, Kino Makoto." Setsuna moved back to her place between the beds. "You have to know that all will go as it must go. Do you trust me?"
The Inner Senshi looked at each other briefly, before nodding to the affirmative.
"Good. Then trust my words." She placed a hand on each of her fallen friend's foreheads. "They will come back to us if and when their battles are won."
Above her head, Michiru's monitor continued its steady decline.
******************
"Michi!! Please don't go into the light!!" Haruka's throat was raw, her eyes blazed with hot tears. "Please, my kokoro....my love..."
"Sailor Uranus", Queen Serenity's voice was firm. "I told you she has to fight this on her own. You must listen to me."
Haruka looked back at the Queen's image. "Serenity-sama, my respect for your memory as well as your words is great. But Kaiou Michiru....she's my life. She's everything to me! Just as Mamoru-san is to your own daughter."
"I know this, Uranus. The seeds of the love between you were sown during the Silver Millenium itself. And I nurtured them, gladly."
"Then how can you expect me to stand back and watch her go into that light?"
The Queen lowered her gaze. "Because...sometimes in your life, there will be things you can't outrun and things you can't fight. You can't stop the events of her life from progessing as they are meant to."
Haruka shook her head, violently. "This isn't about preventing life from happening, Serenity-sama. This is about preventing death." She took a step towards the Queen. "When Beryl invaded the Moon Kingdom and killed the Princesses...you didn't stand by and let it happen. You sent us to a time and place where we could live happily."
"And I gave up my life for yours", the Queen finished, quietly.
"Yes." Haruka paused. "I don't want to live if Michiru dies. I will do anything in my power to save her life."
The Queen's head lifted; her shining eyes looked straight into Haruka's. "There was a time when you were willing to sacrifice any life, even Neptune's, to save the world. And now you would go against me to save her life, only for your own sake?"
Haruka nodded. "I would, Serenity-sama."
"What changed, Uranus?"
The tall Sailor Senshi closed her eyes; the corners of her lips turned up. "I fell in love."
When she opened her eyes again, she saw the Queen smiling down at her with all her radiance. "Then go to her. Help her. Fight together."
"Thank you." Haruka bowed deeply. Before she ran towards her lover, she paused. "Just so you know, my Queen....I don't save her only for my own sake. I save her for everyone's sake."
Before the good Queen could reply, Haruka ran to Michiru. With a deep breath, she reached into the light and took ahold of her girlfriend's slender shoulders
*******************
The door to room 531 burst open nearly taking Ami with it. Two nurses and a doctor ran into the room and a third nurse followed with a crash cart. The group of friends were speechless as the medical professionals began poking and prodding their fellow Senshi.
"She's gone into some sort of catatonic shock!", a short nurse yelled as she read the sinking numbers on Michiru's machine.
"Give her 50 milligrams and wait for Tanaka-sama", the doctor ordered.
"The Ten'oh girl is crashing", the second nurse reported. "BP 190 over 50." Suddenly, Haruka's machine began beeping frantically. "She's in defib!"
"Get the paddles ready!", the doctor shouted. The nurse reached for the crash cart.
Rei rushed foward. "What's going on?"
"Are you all family?", the nurse asked as she squeezed a clear lotion on the two heart paddles.
"We're friends. Good friends", Usagi managed to say.
The nurse shook her head and rubbed the paddles together. She handed them to the doctor. "I'm sorry, you're all going to have to go now. You can't be in here for this and visiting hours are almost over." Behind her, the other nurse opened the front of Haruka's hospital gown, exposing her chest.
Out of respect, Mamoru averted his eyes. "We'll go. Arigatou." The woman nodded and turned around to help the doctor.
"Mamo-chan?" Usagi looked up at her boyfriend pleadingly.
"There's nothing we can do, Usa-ko. The doctor knows what he's doing." Mamoru lead her to the door. The other girls followed grudgingly.
Before he could usher her out the door, Usagi addressed the doctor. "Please....please save them."
But he didn't hear her. Instead, he pressed the paddles to Haruka's chest. "Clear!", he shouted. Usagi could see Haruka's body jump with the electricity before Mamoru pulled her out into the hallway.
"Oh Mamo-chan!! They can't die!!!" Down the hallway, she could see the second doctor, racing towards the room.
Setsuna replied, softly, but clearly, "Trust in destiny, Usagi-chan. Trust it."
********************
As soon as her hands touched Michiru's smooth skin, Haruka felt the light pulling at her. She ignored it and instead focused on waking Michiru from her strange, dreamlike state. "Michi!", she cried, shaking her. "Michi, wake up!!"
Slowly, Michiru's eyes opened; twin pools of aqua blue looked back at Haruka. "Ruka-chan?", she whispered.
"I'm here! I'm here for you." Haruka reached for her girlfriend's hand. "We'll beat this thing together, Michi-ko."
"I was just thinking of you, Ruka-chan." Michiru smiled dreamily. "It was a nice thought...." Her eyelids closed again.
"No!" Haruka shook her. "Michi....open your eyes. Open your eyes and keep thinking of me. We have to get out of this light!"
Michiru's head swayed from side to side. "But it's so beautiful...and warm. It's like being in your arms, Ruka-chan. I don't want to leave it...."
The light called to her as well, but Haruka fought it. "I know, my koi...I know. I want to stay too. It would be so easy to let it take us away together. But we can't!!"
"Why not? Would it be so bad?", Michiru breathed. "Does the idea...of spending eternity with me...bother you that...much?" Her words were becoming slower, more forced by the second.
Haruka hung her head; her brow brushed against the soft aquamarine waves that touched Michiru's shoulders. "I need you alive, Michi. We have so many years left...we have to be together for them."
"That's right..." The smile on Michiru's face was sarcastic. "Because...you're crazy...about...me..."
"I was scared. When I said that, I was scared, Michi."
Michiru shook her head; the sea-green strands slapped gently against Haruka's lips. "No...Sailor Uranus...she doesn't....get scared."
Haruka chuckled bitterly. "Yes she does. She gets scared when something threatens you. She gets scared when you look at another woman or another man. She gets scared when she sees you painting or playing the violin...or just looking off into space...she realizes how unworthy she is of your love. And she gets terrified that one day it all might be gone."
"Ruka-chan..."
"But more than that....she gets scared when you say you love her with such confidence and clarity...because she's afraid that she might never be able to say the words back to you, even though she knows, deep down, that she does." A tear fell from Haruka's eye and splashed onto the white armbands of her girlfriend's sailor suit. With the shedding of the tear came a renewed sense of strength. She tightened her grip on Michiru. "Michi....we are getting out of this light. We are going to fight it and break free and spend the rest of our lives together, riding around Tokyo...on the trains if we have to!"
Michiru laughed. It wasn't a weak laugh...it was a laugh full of life. "My Ruka." She reached up and ran her fingers through Haruka's short carmel-colored locks. "What do we have to do to get out of here?"
********************
Doctor Nobu ripped off his face mask with satsifaction. "The Michiru girl is out of danger, Tanaka-sama."
His older colleague nodded. "Good. Her friend is almost out of the woods as well. That was a close call." The nurse next to him began to re-check Haruka's vital signs.
"Too close, if you ask me. These arrests had no warning at all. How do we know it won't happen again?"
"We don't, Nobu-san." Doctor Tanaka drapped his stethoscope around his neck. "We can only monitor them closely and hope for the best."
The younger doctor sighed and tossed his face mask onto the pile of used medical supplies one nurse was gathering. "Well, I suppose I'll go inform the girls' friends of the good news. Sayuri-chan?"
The head nurse looked up from her chart. "Yes, Nobu-san?"
"Where did the children who were here earlier go?"
"I sent them home, Nobu-san. Visiting hours are over."
Tanaka finished his own chart and handed it to Sayuri. "We'll just call the Michiru girl's parents." He looked at his two patients. "Good work, minna", he congratulated the team.
"And here's hoping", Nobu said to himself.
***********************
"We're out of the light", Michiru said. Her voice echoed in darkness around them. She was kneeling; Haruka leaned against her. "Ruka-chan....we did it." Haruka smiled, too exhausted to reply. "But where are we?", Michiru asked the darkness.
"Don't worry, Neptune. You are no longer in danger."
Michiru looked up above her to find the source of the sweet words. The voice was hauntingly familiar... "Serenity-sama?", she whispered.
The Queen appeared several yards away, bathed in a crystal blue light. Everything about her shone. "You escaped the light together."
"But...where are we, my Queen?"
"Your bodies are on Earth, lying in a Tokyo hospital. But your spirits are here, in stasis....between that world and the next." The Queen smiled. "Don't worry....your lives are safe now."
Michiru looked down at Haruka. Her slate blue eyes were half-closed, as though she had no strength left to keep them open. "We can't stay here forever, Serenity-sama. How do we get back to our bodies?"
"Together", Serenity replied. "Haruka wanted to save you by herself. She had to learn that you must do it together. Now, it's your turn."
"But what did we do, Serenity-sama? I don't remember leaving the light..." Before she could finish her sentence, the Queen's image began to fade. "Serenity-sama!! Please!!" But the good Queen was gone.
Michiru sat for a few minutes; the silence around her was both peaceful and frightening. Haruka's head was heavy against her breast. She wrapped her arms tighter around her girlfriend's toned body. "Oh, Ruka-chan....we have to get out of here. You were right. We have years ahead of us that we should spend together. I just don't know what to do." An aqua tear slipped from the corner of her eye and ran down her cheek. "I've never been the one in charge before...I've never had to be. Ever since we met, you've taken care of everything." She paused. "No one has ever taken care of me like you have."
Haruka stirred, but didn't speak.
"But now...it's my turn to take care of you. Serenity-sama said we have to do it together and we will." She gently rocked Haruka's body. "We will." A memory suddenly came to her. It brought a smile to her lips. "I'll never forget the first time I met you, Ruka-chan. I was in the art room, working on one of my paintings. Elza came in and asked me if I would come watch her race later that day." Michiru laughed. "Oh, how I wanted to say 'no'. My idea of fun did not include sitting in the hot sun, watching runners sweat their way around the track field."
She paused for a long moment. "But something made me say 'yes', instead. The minute I did, I thought I would regret it. When I got there...." Her words trailed off. "When I saw you on that field.....you, the girl in my dreams, the one I was looking for....Sailor Uranus....it was like I found a part of myself that had been missing." She lowered her head until her chin touched Haruka's soft hair. "I've never regretted going to that track meet."
Michiru closed her eyes and brought her lips down onto Haruka's. After a second, she pulled away. "Ai shiteru, Ten'oh Haruka", she whispered. "In this life and the next."
Slowly, Haruka's eyes opened. "I love you, too, Michi-ko. In this life and the next. Forever."
*******************
*Beep...beep....beep* The night nurse looked up from her manga. On the electronic board before her, the two lights for room 531 flashed on and off. Jumping to her feet, she tossed the comic book aside and ran down the hallway. With a heavy heart, she pushed the door open.
Two girls lay in the room's two beds. One with hair like the ocean; the other with hair like the lion. Both girls lay on their sides, awake. They stared at each other with pure love.....their fingers intwined across the space between them.
The End
Author's Notes: I'm American...I don't speak Japanese. So if I have messed up on any of the names or endings or phrases, gomen nasai. I did try:)
Dedication: As with stories I have written before, this is for Joseph. The Angel to my Cordelia...the Buffy to my Willow....and who knows? Maybe even the Haruka to my Michiru:)
************
To Fight For You
by Kristen Elizabeth
************
The sketchpad was heavy on her lap. She wanted to put it in the car's backseat, but feared to lose the loose drawings to the strong wind. Sighing, she held one hand over the thick book. With the other hand, she gathered her shoulder length turquoise hair up and held it in a loose bun. It only took seconds before the wind tore long strands free and they again whipped against her face.
"Should I put the top up?" The familiarity of the throaty voice next to her made her smile.
"No, Ruka-chan. I'm fine. It's just hair."
Her girlfriend took her eyes from the road for a moment and winked. "But it's beautiful hair."
A girlish blush spread on her porcelain cheeks. "Even all tousled like this?"
"Especially all tousled like that."
With a content expression, she lowered her hand and let her hair go. "I love you, Ruka-chan."
There was an empty pause. "I'm...uh...crazy about you too, Michi-ko."
She looked over at her girlfriend's tomboyishly lovely profile. Her jaw was set; her eyes didn't waver from the road. "You're crazy about me", she echoed. "That's all?"
Another pause followed. "What do you want me to say, Michiru?"
The use of her full name took her back slightly. She blinked. "I want you to tell me that you love me, Ruka-chan."
"I have", her girlfriend snapped back. Then, she softened. "I have said....that."
"No, you haven't." She twisted her body to the left to see her partner better. "You've never said it. You can't even hear talk about it, can you?"
A sigh of annoyance. "Can we discuss this later?"
"No, Haruka." Her tone was pointed. "We can't discuss this later."
Her eyes left the road. "Michi..."
"Ruka-chan!!!"
"I hear you, Michi-ko. You don't have to yell."
"Ruka....look out!!!!"
*************************
Tsukino Usagi looked up at the tall stone building. It seemed to never end, reaching towards the sky as though it could touch the stars. Or the planets themselves. She swallowed a lump that formed deep in her throat.
"I would do anything to not have to go in there", she said aloud.
A strong arm wrapped around her shoulder. She felt her boyfriend, Chiba Mamoru, at her side. The warmth of his body was as comforting as the words he spoke. "Usa-ko, if you don't want to go...."
Usagi shook her long, blond ponytails. "No, Mamo-chan. They're my friends..." She looked up at him. "I have to."
He smiled, although his handsome face didn't completely lose the sad expression it had worn for the past two days. Ever since....
"Usagi-chan!!" Behind them, Usagi heard the familiar voice of her best friend, Kino Makoto, approaching them.
"Mako-chan", she greeted the taller girl. "Are you here to see....?"
Makoto nodded. "Rei and Minako are already up there with them."
Mamoru stuffed his hands deep into the pockets of his black pants. "How are they?", he asked.
"Maintaining", Makoto replied. "No better, no worse. Ami-chan says the doctors aren't quite sure what to do for them."
Usagi felt her eyes filling with tears. Before they could spill over, she said, "Let's go up."
Mamoru took her small hand in his. "It's going to be tough, Usa-ko."
"I owe it to them", was all she said.
**************
After a stop at the nurse's station to obtain vistor ID's, the three friends piled into the hospital's elevator and rode it in silence to the fifth floor. When the doors opened, the smells of medicine hit them. Mamoru closed his eyes briefly. How he hated hospitals. He had lost his parents in one...had spent much of his lonely childhood in another. He wanted to take the elevator back down....to get out of the building and breath fresh air. Only Usagi's hand, fingers intwined with his, kept him there.
"Room 531", Makoto repeated from memory, leading them down the wide corridor. "529, 530.....531." She stopped in front of one closed door. Beside the frame, two medical charts rested in bins built for them. Usagi could read the names on each. Kaiou and Ten'ou. She tightened her grip on Mamoru.
"What are we waiting for?", she whispered. Taking a deep breath, she reached out and twisted the door knob.
Hino Rei jumped up from her spot on a hard-looking armchair when they entered the room. "Usagi-chan, Mamoru-san, Mako.....wow, I didn't expect to see all of you at once."
Usagi smiled tightly. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the two beds that occupied most of the room...and the two figures lying in them. "Where's Minako-chan?"
"She walked Michiru-san's parents down to their car; she'll be back in a minute. I'm surprised you didn't run into them outside."
Makoto slowly walked over to the beds. "*I'm* surprised they left before visting hours were over."
Rei lifted her long, black hair off of her neck. "Well, they had a big business function or something." She let her hair fall. "I think they'd rather be anywhere but here."
"It can't be easy for them....to see their daughter like this." Mamoru looked at the bed's occupants.
Drawing all her internal senshi strength, Usagi forced herself to look as well. What she saw made her stomach drop. Kaiou Michiru lay in the bed closest to the door. Her aquamarine locks fanned across the pillow, but her lithe body was frighteningly still, save for the rise and fall of her chest with machine-forced breath. A white bandage covered most of her sculpted forehead; her eyes were closed. A few feet away, Ten'oh Haruka lay in the second bed. She too was unconcious; the trim body that longed for speed was motionless; her boyishly cut tan hair lay listless. Haruka's serene face was marred with several cuts and bruises and her left arm was encased in a cast.
"They just look like they're sleeping." Usagi's tears spilled over onto her cheeks. "Oh...why did this happen to them, Mamo-chan? Why?"
Mamoru embraced his girlfriend. "It was an accident, Usa-ko. A horrible accident. There is no explanation."
Makoto nodded her agreement. "The policeman said Haruka-san couldn't possibly have seen the other car until it was too late. "
"It wasn't her fault", Rei continued. "It wasn't anybody's fault."
"What about the other driver?" Usagi broke away from Mamoru. "Huh? What about him? He could have seen Haruka-chan's car! He could have slowed down!! I hope he goes to jail for the rest of his life."
Rei placed a calming hand on her friend's shoulder. "Usagi-chan...he's dead."
Usagi's tiny body slumped back against Mamoru. "Oh..." She closed her eyes. "I didn't know...."
The door opened suddenly. Aino Minako entered the room along with Mizuno Ami. Both girls looked surprised to see their friends. "Look who I found downstairs, Rei-chan." Minako gestured to Ami. "Looks like you got some company, too."
"The more, the merrier", Rei said. Realizing their situation, she flushed bright red. "I mean...well, you know what I mean...."
There was a long pause. "I just wish there was something we could do", Makoto finally said, balling up her fist in frustration. "We have all this power, but we can't do a damn thing to help them."
Usagi's reply was muffled by Darien's sweater, pressed against her cheek. "My first thought was to use Moon Healing Activation...." She sobbed. "But I don't have that power anymore."
"We don't know that it would have worked anyways", Mamoru comforted her. "It might have done more harm than good."
"What about Setsuna-san?", Minako spoke up. Her blue eyes were bright with hope. "Maybe she could fold time back to a point where we could warn Haruka-san!"
"If only I could", a low voice from the open door replied. All heads swung to see the newcomer. Meiou Setsuna stood in the doorway, eyes downcast. Her sorrow was overwhelming. "I'm not at liberty to use time like that. Besides..." She looked up and pushed a strand of dark green hair away from her eyes. "All things, good or bad, have a purpose."
Rei's eyes flashed. "You're saying there's a reason our friends are in comas, hooked up to machines to stay alive?" The older Sailor Senshi nodded. "I can't believe that! Haruka-san and Michiru-san don't deserve this!!"
"No one thinks they deserve this, Rei-chan", Ami corrected her friend. "Setsuna-san is only saying that this is part of their destiny. Right?"
Setsuna nodded again. "This is something they must go through. Only when they have withstood it, will their destinies ever truly be fulfilled."
Usagi shook her head. "I don't understand you, Setsuna-san."
An unexpected chuckle escaped Setsuna's pink lips. "You will someday. For now, that's all I can say." She walked over to her fellow Outer Senshi and stood between their beds. "No matter how unfair it may seem, this isn't our battle right now. It's theirs......"
****************
Haruka felt the light through the darkness before she ever saw it. Warm and sweet, it caressed her, drawing her nearer to it. It wanted to take her within its embrace and never let go. She found herself reaching for it...
An image flashed through her mind. Waves of sea green hair.....sapphire eyes that could tell more in one look than a million of her sweet words ever could.....delicate fingers that danced across a violin or a canvas.....
"Michi", she heard herself whisper. "I won't go without Michi." Before the words were completely out of her mouth, the light began to fade. Where there had been warmth, there was now only a cold wind. Wrapping her arms tight around her body, Haruka looked at her surroundings. But her beautiful partner was nowhere in sight. "Michi!", she cried out. "Where are you?"
"She's not here, Sailor Uranus."
Haruka swung around to see who had spoken to her. Standing a few feet away in the darkness, visible only by a weak shaft of light, she saw Queen Serenity. Her long blond ponytails hung to the train of her sheer white dress; she looked exactly as Haruka could almost remember her having looked during the Silver Millenium. "My Queen", she whispered. Then, her voice hardened. "Where's Michiru?"
The Queen's hands were clasped to her heart, just as Michiru often held hers. "Sailor Neptune fights the battle unequal to any other battle."
"What do you mean, Serenity-sama?"
She closed her twinkling eyes. "She fights for her life."
Haruka's blood ran cold. "Michi...."
"She's dying."
"No." Haruka's eyes narrowed. "I won't let her. I will fight and I will save her."
Queen Serenity looked at her Outer Senshi with an expression of regret. "Gomen nasai, Sailor Uranus. I'm sorry.....it's not your place to save her. You have your own battle to fight, your own life to save."
"But...I'm fine! I'm not dying, Serenity-sama."
"You're sure of this?"
Haruka looked down at her body, clothed in the familiar suit of a Sailor Senshi. "Yes....the light...I fought it off...."
Serenity nodded. "You did. And how did you do it?"
"Michiru." Haruka swallowed heavily. "I thought of my Michi-ko."
"And that is how she will win her battle. The thought of you." Serenity paused. "Let her fight it."
Haruka shook her head violently. "What if she loses? If she dies...." A tear collected in the corner of her eye.
"These things have already been decided, my dear Uranus. By a power greater than myself."
"Please, Serenity-sama." Haruka brushed the tear away with one gloved hand. "Take me to her. I need to see her."
The Queen took a long time to answer. "Very well, Uranus. But remember....what she fights to save is her own life. Therefore, she must battle alone."
Haruka nodded. "Yes, Serenity-sama."
"Take my hand." The Queen stretched out one perfect arm. Haruka placed her hand in the Queen's. "And close your eyes." The cold wind picked up speed and intensity; it blew the short locks of tan hair around Haruka's face. After a moment, it died down. "You can open them now", Serenity said.
Slowly, Haruka obeyed. Before her, yards away in the black that surrounded them, she saw her love. The light was upon Michiru, illuminating her beautiful face...casting shadows with the perfect curves of her body. She took Haruka's breath away.
But, she was afraid at the same time. The light around her girlfriend was becoming brighter...and yet, Michiru didn't fight it. She just let it envelop her body; her bare arms reached for its warmth.
"Michiru!!", Haruka shouted. "Don't go!! Fight it!! Please, fight it!!!"
*****************
"Oh no!!" Ami put a hand to her throat. "Look at their monitors!!"
All eyes in the room immediately swung to the two beeping heart monitors hanging over Michiru and Haruka's beds.
Minako bit her lip. "Haruka-san's is beating really fast...much faster than it was awhile ago. That's good, right?"
"I don't know", Rei answered. "It doesn't look so good."
"Michiru-san", Usagi whispered. "Her beats are getting slower and slower."
Setsuna's chin touched her chest. "We might be losing her."
"Not in this lifetime!!", Makoto shouted. "Get a doctor, Ami-chan!!" The blue haired girl made a move for the door, but Setsuna stepped in front of her.
"No." The Senshi of Pluto crossed her arms over her chest. "Whatever will be, will be."
"I will not sit here and just let a Sailor Senshi...my friend, die, Setsuna-san", Makoto yelled back, her voice dangerous. "Destiny or not!!"
"It's not your decision to make, Kino Makoto." Setsuna moved back to her place between the beds. "You have to know that all will go as it must go. Do you trust me?"
The Inner Senshi looked at each other briefly, before nodding to the affirmative.
"Good. Then trust my words." She placed a hand on each of her fallen friend's foreheads. "They will come back to us if and when their battles are won."
Above her head, Michiru's monitor continued its steady decline.
******************
"Michi!! Please don't go into the light!!" Haruka's throat was raw, her eyes blazed with hot tears. "Please, my kokoro....my love..."
"Sailor Uranus", Queen Serenity's voice was firm. "I told you she has to fight this on her own. You must listen to me."
Haruka looked back at the Queen's image. "Serenity-sama, my respect for your memory as well as your words is great. But Kaiou Michiru....she's my life. She's everything to me! Just as Mamoru-san is to your own daughter."
"I know this, Uranus. The seeds of the love between you were sown during the Silver Millenium itself. And I nurtured them, gladly."
"Then how can you expect me to stand back and watch her go into that light?"
The Queen lowered her gaze. "Because...sometimes in your life, there will be things you can't outrun and things you can't fight. You can't stop the events of her life from progessing as they are meant to."
Haruka shook her head, violently. "This isn't about preventing life from happening, Serenity-sama. This is about preventing death." She took a step towards the Queen. "When Beryl invaded the Moon Kingdom and killed the Princesses...you didn't stand by and let it happen. You sent us to a time and place where we could live happily."
"And I gave up my life for yours", the Queen finished, quietly.
"Yes." Haruka paused. "I don't want to live if Michiru dies. I will do anything in my power to save her life."
The Queen's head lifted; her shining eyes looked straight into Haruka's. "There was a time when you were willing to sacrifice any life, even Neptune's, to save the world. And now you would go against me to save her life, only for your own sake?"
Haruka nodded. "I would, Serenity-sama."
"What changed, Uranus?"
The tall Sailor Senshi closed her eyes; the corners of her lips turned up. "I fell in love."
When she opened her eyes again, she saw the Queen smiling down at her with all her radiance. "Then go to her. Help her. Fight together."
"Thank you." Haruka bowed deeply. Before she ran towards her lover, she paused. "Just so you know, my Queen....I don't save her only for my own sake. I save her for everyone's sake."
Before the good Queen could reply, Haruka ran to Michiru. With a deep breath, she reached into the light and took ahold of her girlfriend's slender shoulders
*******************
The door to room 531 burst open nearly taking Ami with it. Two nurses and a doctor ran into the room and a third nurse followed with a crash cart. The group of friends were speechless as the medical professionals began poking and prodding their fellow Senshi.
"She's gone into some sort of catatonic shock!", a short nurse yelled as she read the sinking numbers on Michiru's machine.
"Give her 50 milligrams and wait for Tanaka-sama", the doctor ordered.
"The Ten'oh girl is crashing", the second nurse reported. "BP 190 over 50." Suddenly, Haruka's machine began beeping frantically. "She's in defib!"
"Get the paddles ready!", the doctor shouted. The nurse reached for the crash cart.
Rei rushed foward. "What's going on?"
"Are you all family?", the nurse asked as she squeezed a clear lotion on the two heart paddles.
"We're friends. Good friends", Usagi managed to say.
The nurse shook her head and rubbed the paddles together. She handed them to the doctor. "I'm sorry, you're all going to have to go now. You can't be in here for this and visiting hours are almost over." Behind her, the other nurse opened the front of Haruka's hospital gown, exposing her chest.
Out of respect, Mamoru averted his eyes. "We'll go. Arigatou." The woman nodded and turned around to help the doctor.
"Mamo-chan?" Usagi looked up at her boyfriend pleadingly.
"There's nothing we can do, Usa-ko. The doctor knows what he's doing." Mamoru lead her to the door. The other girls followed grudgingly.
Before he could usher her out the door, Usagi addressed the doctor. "Please....please save them."
But he didn't hear her. Instead, he pressed the paddles to Haruka's chest. "Clear!", he shouted. Usagi could see Haruka's body jump with the electricity before Mamoru pulled her out into the hallway.
"Oh Mamo-chan!! They can't die!!!" Down the hallway, she could see the second doctor, racing towards the room.
Setsuna replied, softly, but clearly, "Trust in destiny, Usagi-chan. Trust it."
********************
As soon as her hands touched Michiru's smooth skin, Haruka felt the light pulling at her. She ignored it and instead focused on waking Michiru from her strange, dreamlike state. "Michi!", she cried, shaking her. "Michi, wake up!!"
Slowly, Michiru's eyes opened; twin pools of aqua blue looked back at Haruka. "Ruka-chan?", she whispered.
"I'm here! I'm here for you." Haruka reached for her girlfriend's hand. "We'll beat this thing together, Michi-ko."
"I was just thinking of you, Ruka-chan." Michiru smiled dreamily. "It was a nice thought...." Her eyelids closed again.
"No!" Haruka shook her. "Michi....open your eyes. Open your eyes and keep thinking of me. We have to get out of this light!"
Michiru's head swayed from side to side. "But it's so beautiful...and warm. It's like being in your arms, Ruka-chan. I don't want to leave it...."
The light called to her as well, but Haruka fought it. "I know, my koi...I know. I want to stay too. It would be so easy to let it take us away together. But we can't!!"
"Why not? Would it be so bad?", Michiru breathed. "Does the idea...of spending eternity with me...bother you that...much?" Her words were becoming slower, more forced by the second.
Haruka hung her head; her brow brushed against the soft aquamarine waves that touched Michiru's shoulders. "I need you alive, Michi. We have so many years left...we have to be together for them."
"That's right..." The smile on Michiru's face was sarcastic. "Because...you're crazy...about...me..."
"I was scared. When I said that, I was scared, Michi."
Michiru shook her head; the sea-green strands slapped gently against Haruka's lips. "No...Sailor Uranus...she doesn't....get scared."
Haruka chuckled bitterly. "Yes she does. She gets scared when something threatens you. She gets scared when you look at another woman or another man. She gets scared when she sees you painting or playing the violin...or just looking off into space...she realizes how unworthy she is of your love. And she gets terrified that one day it all might be gone."
"Ruka-chan..."
"But more than that....she gets scared when you say you love her with such confidence and clarity...because she's afraid that she might never be able to say the words back to you, even though she knows, deep down, that she does." A tear fell from Haruka's eye and splashed onto the white armbands of her girlfriend's sailor suit. With the shedding of the tear came a renewed sense of strength. She tightened her grip on Michiru. "Michi....we are getting out of this light. We are going to fight it and break free and spend the rest of our lives together, riding around Tokyo...on the trains if we have to!"
Michiru laughed. It wasn't a weak laugh...it was a laugh full of life. "My Ruka." She reached up and ran her fingers through Haruka's short carmel-colored locks. "What do we have to do to get out of here?"
********************
Doctor Nobu ripped off his face mask with satsifaction. "The Michiru girl is out of danger, Tanaka-sama."
His older colleague nodded. "Good. Her friend is almost out of the woods as well. That was a close call." The nurse next to him began to re-check Haruka's vital signs.
"Too close, if you ask me. These arrests had no warning at all. How do we know it won't happen again?"
"We don't, Nobu-san." Doctor Tanaka drapped his stethoscope around his neck. "We can only monitor them closely and hope for the best."
The younger doctor sighed and tossed his face mask onto the pile of used medical supplies one nurse was gathering. "Well, I suppose I'll go inform the girls' friends of the good news. Sayuri-chan?"
The head nurse looked up from her chart. "Yes, Nobu-san?"
"Where did the children who were here earlier go?"
"I sent them home, Nobu-san. Visiting hours are over."
Tanaka finished his own chart and handed it to Sayuri. "We'll just call the Michiru girl's parents." He looked at his two patients. "Good work, minna", he congratulated the team.
"And here's hoping", Nobu said to himself.
***********************
"We're out of the light", Michiru said. Her voice echoed in darkness around them. She was kneeling; Haruka leaned against her. "Ruka-chan....we did it." Haruka smiled, too exhausted to reply. "But where are we?", Michiru asked the darkness.
"Don't worry, Neptune. You are no longer in danger."
Michiru looked up above her to find the source of the sweet words. The voice was hauntingly familiar... "Serenity-sama?", she whispered.
The Queen appeared several yards away, bathed in a crystal blue light. Everything about her shone. "You escaped the light together."
"But...where are we, my Queen?"
"Your bodies are on Earth, lying in a Tokyo hospital. But your spirits are here, in stasis....between that world and the next." The Queen smiled. "Don't worry....your lives are safe now."
Michiru looked down at Haruka. Her slate blue eyes were half-closed, as though she had no strength left to keep them open. "We can't stay here forever, Serenity-sama. How do we get back to our bodies?"
"Together", Serenity replied. "Haruka wanted to save you by herself. She had to learn that you must do it together. Now, it's your turn."
"But what did we do, Serenity-sama? I don't remember leaving the light..." Before she could finish her sentence, the Queen's image began to fade. "Serenity-sama!! Please!!" But the good Queen was gone.
Michiru sat for a few minutes; the silence around her was both peaceful and frightening. Haruka's head was heavy against her breast. She wrapped her arms tighter around her girlfriend's toned body. "Oh, Ruka-chan....we have to get out of here. You were right. We have years ahead of us that we should spend together. I just don't know what to do." An aqua tear slipped from the corner of her eye and ran down her cheek. "I've never been the one in charge before...I've never had to be. Ever since we met, you've taken care of everything." She paused. "No one has ever taken care of me like you have."
Haruka stirred, but didn't speak.
"But now...it's my turn to take care of you. Serenity-sama said we have to do it together and we will." She gently rocked Haruka's body. "We will." A memory suddenly came to her. It brought a smile to her lips. "I'll never forget the first time I met you, Ruka-chan. I was in the art room, working on one of my paintings. Elza came in and asked me if I would come watch her race later that day." Michiru laughed. "Oh, how I wanted to say 'no'. My idea of fun did not include sitting in the hot sun, watching runners sweat their way around the track field."
She paused for a long moment. "But something made me say 'yes', instead. The minute I did, I thought I would regret it. When I got there...." Her words trailed off. "When I saw you on that field.....you, the girl in my dreams, the one I was looking for....Sailor Uranus....it was like I found a part of myself that had been missing." She lowered her head until her chin touched Haruka's soft hair. "I've never regretted going to that track meet."
Michiru closed her eyes and brought her lips down onto Haruka's. After a second, she pulled away. "Ai shiteru, Ten'oh Haruka", she whispered. "In this life and the next."
Slowly, Haruka's eyes opened. "I love you, too, Michi-ko. In this life and the next. Forever."
*******************
*Beep...beep....beep* The night nurse looked up from her manga. On the electronic board before her, the two lights for room 531 flashed on and off. Jumping to her feet, she tossed the comic book aside and ran down the hallway. With a heavy heart, she pushed the door open.
Two girls lay in the room's two beds. One with hair like the ocean; the other with hair like the lion. Both girls lay on their sides, awake. They stared at each other with pure love.....their fingers intwined across the space between them.
The End