Michiru stirred in her sleep as she felt something cool brush against her cheek. Had she left the window open, allowing a light breeze to get into the room? No, she hadn't even opened it.

Michiru opened her eyes and saw someone sitting on the edge of the bed. She recognized the person immediately.

"Haruka," she breathed out. Haruka's hand was still stroking her cheek.

"Try again, Neptune," Haruka – or was it even Haruka? – whispered in her husky voice. Michiru studied her face closer. The person certainly looked like Haruka, but even in the dark Michiru could see that there was something different in the woman's face. She had the same features as Haruka, but she looked slightly older and the look in her eyes was different.

"Uranus?" Michiru tried again. The woman smiled and leaned in to kiss the corner of her lips.

"Is this a dream?" Michiru asked, trying to hide the surprise in her voice. She had never been kissed by either Haruka or Uranus – at least in this life.

"Maybe. Or this might be real. Who knows? Perhaps this is something else," Uranus answered, whispering the words into Michiru's ear.

"Why are you here?"

"We decided that you need someone to knock some sense into your head," Uranus smirked.

"We?"

"Me and Neptune."

Michiru was now even more confused than before, and it didn't help that Uranus was now breathing against her neck, looking for the best spot to kiss.

"I don't understand," she said as she felt Uranus' hands wrap around her waist.

"You and Haruka are holding back," Uranus pointed out and started to finally kiss Michiru's neck. The girl didn't know how to respond, but she didn't really want to push Uranus away.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she breathed out.

"Yes, you do. You both want to be together, but you keep coming up with excuses," Uranus replied, placing kisses down Michiru's neck to her shoulder.

"We have our duty, we can't-" Uranus cut her off with a kiss.

"That never stopped us in the Silver Millennium. I'm sure you remember," she reminded Michiru.

Michiru did remember. The memories of herself as Neptune spending countless nights with Uranus had taken over her dreams when she hit puberty, before she even knew she was Sailor Neptune. She still had those dreams every once in a while. But nowadays it was more difficult to handle them, because now she had a chance to relive those memories with Haruka, but she couldn't take it because of her duty.

"It's different," Michiru argued.

"How is it different? You want Haruka and she certainly wants you," Uranus said and slid her hand under Michiru's shirt, "You should see the fantasies she has of the things she wants to do with you." Michiru lifted her arms up, allowing Uranus to take off her shirt.

"You're still just as beautiful," Uranus whispered and leaned in to kiss Michiru, running her hands up Michiru's stomach to cup her breasts.

"Why are you doing this?" Michiru asked, still not sure if this was real or not.

"Like I said, we need to knock some sense into you," Uranus replied. Michiru felt her lips ghosting above the skin of her breast.

"No, why are you doing this?" Michiru pushed further and arched herself against Uranus' mouth.

"You and Haruka belong together. Do you even know how painful it is to not be able to be with the one you love, even though she's right there, just because your reincarnation is too thickheaded to do anything? The time you've known Haruka is nothing compared to the time I've waited to be with Neptune again."

Michiru could hear the pain in Uranus' voice. She reached out and brushed the blonde bangs away from Uranus' face. All of the confidence and cockiness Uranus had had just a moment ago seemed to be gone and replaced with sorrow and heartbreak.

"I do want to be with Haruka. But if we're together and something happens to one of us, it'll hurt even more than this," she explained, running her hand down Uranus' neck to her shoulder.

"So you're afraid of the pain, then? Well, this isn't probably going to make you feel any better, but that feeling is not going to go away even after you've finished your mission. We are soldiers, Neptune, and that will never change."

Michiru thought about Uranus' words. She was right; there could always be a new mission after this one, and the fear of losing Haruka would stay. Still, something made her doubt.

"Tell me again, what are you? A dream?" Michiru asked after a moment of silence.

"Like I said, I don't know. Something like that, I'd think. Maybe I'm a memory you've been trying to forget to spare yourself from pain," Uranus said and ran her fingers up and down Michiru's side, making the girl shiver when she brushed against her breast. Uranus seemed to have regained her confidence.

Michiru wrapped her arms around Uranus' shoulders, pulling her down for a kiss. If Uranus was a dream – or a memory – she might as well take the opportunity to be with Haruka, even if it was a different version of her. Uranus pushed Michiru down against the bed and moved to kiss her neck. Michiru let out a relaxed sigh, which sounded almost like a moan. This was what she had fantasized about for too long.

"You might want to keep the moans to a minimum. If I know Haruka at all – and I do, since she's me – I'd say she wouldn't like it if she heard her girl being with someone else," Uranus pointed out and gestured towards the wall that separated Haruka's bedroom from Michiru's.

"But you are her. Besides, I'm not her girl," Michiru said.

"She thinks of you as hers," Uranus smiled and kissed down from Michiru's collarbone to her breast.

"She does?" Michiru asked. True, they would both feel a bit jealous if the other flirted with someone else, but they weren't really together.

"Of course. And I know you have the same kind of feelings. You might as well be together already," Uranus said while Michiru ran her fingers through the soldier's hair.

"I don't feel that way. Haruka is not mine," Michiru lied, knowing that Uranus could see right through her.

"You can keep telling yourself that. But by tomorrow, Neptune and I will have made you see the truth," Uranus laughed and finally tugged off the last pieces of clothing Michiru was wearing. Suddenly, Michiru realized what Uranus meant.

"Wait. So, Neptune is with Haruka now?" she asked, looking down at Uranus.

"Yes. Probably doing the same thing we're doing. Are you jealous?" Uranus asked.

"No. Of course not. Haruka is not mine," Michiru said. And Neptune is me, after all, she added in her mind. Uranus smiled and leaned down for a kiss while sliding her fingers up Michiru's thigh.


When Michiru woke up the next morning, she found neither Uranus nor Haruka in her room. Last night had to have been either real or a very realistic dream, though, since Michiru found her clothes spread on the floor next to her bed. She got up and got dressed while looking in the mirror, trying to find any clues on her skin about whether or not last night had been real. Unfortunately, she found nothing. Maybe she had just had a very vivid dream, after all.

"Good morning," she greeted Haruka when she walked into the kitchen. The blonde only yawned in response. Michiru studied her from the corner of her eye. She tried to see if there was anything unusual in Haruka's behavior, something that would prove Uranus' words about Neptune visiting Haruka to be true.

They sat down to have breakfast as usual. Haruka's hair was all messed up, just like every other morning. Michiru wondered what it would feel like to run her fingers through her hair. No, I already know what it feels like, Michiru realized, thinking back to last night, when Uranus had kissed up her thigh and-. No. Thoughts like that were forbidden. Thoughts like that would lead up to her wanting to be together with Haruka even more than now.

"So... Did you sleep well?" Haruka asked. Michiru looked up at her and studied her face. Was Haruka trying to find out something?

"Yes. I had... a very good dream," Michiru replied. The two of them stared straight into each other's eyes. They came to the realization at the same time; last night had happened for both of them. Yet neither of them said anything about it. Haruka looked down at the newspaper and continued to eat her toast. Michiru sighed and took the culture pages from Haruka, who was now reading the sports-section.


That night Michiru found herself sitting on the edge of Haruka's bed. The words Uranus had said to her the night before had been going through her head for the whole day. She was going to take care of this right now.

"Oh. Michiru," Haruka said as she opened the door. Michiru didn't say anything; she just got up and walked over to Haruka. She had a great urge to kiss the blonde, but now was not the time for it. Maybe later, though.

"We need to talk," she said.

"Uh, okay. About what? Have you had another vision?" Haruka asked as she walked over to her bed. Michiru stood still by the door.

"No. Well, not really. We need to talk about us… About last night," Michiru said and turned around. Haruka was avoiding looking at her.

"We… uh… Did you and Uranus…" Haruka couldn't even finish her sentence. She was blushing now, and Michiru wanted to just reach over and kiss her.

"Yes. I assume that you and Neptune…" she began. Haruka nodded and sat down on the bed. Michiru followed her.

"I know we can't really be together, but… What Uranus said last night got me thinking," she said and watched Haruka's reaction. The blonde nodded.

"We have our mission," she sighed.

"And we will have a new mission after this one," Michiru said and took Haruka's hand into hers.

"I don't want to wait forever to be with you," Haruka admitted, turning to look at Michiru.

"I don't want to wait either. So I thought… We could make a deal. If we both make it out of this mission alive, we'll be together. No matter what," Michiru suggested. Haruka nodded in agreement. They smiled at each other, feeling the tension between them.

"There's something else I'd like to ask, too," Michiru said.

"What is it?"

"Could I stay here for tonight? Nothing has to happen, but we could pretend to be together for one night. We could give Uranus and Neptune what they want," Michiru suggested.

"I'd love that," Haruka sighed and started to pull open the covers. Michiru lay down with Haruka next to her. This was what she wanted.

They lay down quietly for a moment before Haruka wrapped her arm slowly around Michiru, pulling her closer. If they were going to pretend to be together, they might as well do it properly. Michiru leaned against Haruka, breathing in her scent.

"Michiru?"

"Hm?" Michiru leaned up to look at Haruka.

"Can I kiss you?" Haruka asked quietly. Michiru nodded. Haruka pulled her in for a kiss, and for a moment they could forget that they only had one night for now.

After all this time, Uranus and Neptune could finally be together.