LOST WITH YOU
by brada_m
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. I really don't.
Rating: M: for language, violence and... to be on the safe side.
Setting: AU
Author's note: This crazy idea came to me as I watched the first couple of episodes of 'Lost', from which I borrowed the setting, while the characters are from Sailor Moon. I've taken some of the situations out of Lost to fit in my plot, and I hope no one will be bothered by it.
I have to say that I hate dub names. I watch my anime with Japanese audio and English subs ('cause I only know a few Japanese words and kanji), but I had to use some of them because I wanted the characters to be from different countries. I used English dub names because I thought they'd be familiar for a larger amount of readers.
Italics are flashbacks.
WARNING!: Even if it doesn't look so at first, this is a Haruka and Michiru fic, so H&M fans, please be patient! Those who are not fond of this couple can find that more or less every character will be developed, but it mostly will be about Haruka and Michiru.
WARNING 2!: I'm not a great fan of Seiya, so, if you are one, please forgive me for fooling around with him.
PROLOGUE
* * * * * * * *
Tokyo airport, 9:26 AM.
The departures hall was full of people ready to leave Tokyo. Some going on business trips, some on a well deserved holiday, some going back home. Some of them were happy to leave, others quite the contrary. These were desperate or disappointed, while others just didn't care.
A blonde, young woman with a red ribbon in her long hair was giggling while talking with two handsome and slightly annoyed stewards. Not far from them, a short, old man in traditional Japanese clothes was ogling every pretty girl passing by.
In the big hall, every kind of drama took place every day. People would shed tears there, like the tall brunette with the ponytail as she looked out the wall-wide window at the front of the departures block.
It was also a place for hopes and fears, anxieties and relief. A middle-age woman with blue, shoulder-length hair and small glasses was pacing anxiously, twisting her fingers. She had never been keen on flying.
There were people who tried to stay unnoticed, like the two men in the far corner, one had his hands uncomfortably joined together on his belly and covered with a jacket while the other was showing him the gun hidden under his coat.
Someone else was trying to get attention, instead. That was the black-haired, little girl who was pulling her father's sleeve while the man with white hair and glasses mumbled something to himself insanely and took notes on a small note-book.
Some couldn't pass unnoticed and liked it that way, like the three well-dressed young men who were signing autographs and smiling for the small crowd of fans and reporters taking their pictures. With them was a beautiful aqua-haired woman signing just as many autographs while one of the three pop-idols circled her shoulders with his arm and had a smug smile on his face. She didn't seem interested in her adoring fans nor in her self-satisfied partner as she looked off in the distance, where something near the ticket office had got her attention.
Big rooms like this have their own chirp, like a buzz in the background, a melting-pot of voices and noises where every sound gets lost like that of the thick pair of glasses impacting with the ground. The spike-haired owner crouched to pick them up but was jostled by a blue-haired young woman who got there first. He managed an almost timid 'thank you' but that too faded, mingling in the air without being acknowledged.
What was audible even from a distance was the heated conversation taking place at the ticket office. A handsome, tall blond was arguing with a clerk, then suddenly changed strategy and wore a very charming smile, and immediately obtained whatever he was asking for by the blushing girl.
And in a crowded room there's always – always – someone embarrassing oneself or those with them, like the loud blonde in her early twenties. She had two strange pigtails on her head and was eating ice-cream with such enthusiasm that her hands, mouth and cheeks were a sticky mess while her fiancée sweatdropped hoping no one looked their way.
And sometimes what some consider embarrassing others think of as just cute. So a grown-up man crouched on the ground, engrossed in a game with two little kids, was inspiring only tenderness in the heart of the beautiful black-haired girl wearing the traditional red and white miko clothes standing by.
What can't be missing in a modern airport hall, however, is technology. Every sort of device blinking, beeping, flashing. Ipods, cell phones, laptops conceal peoples' entire existence, their works, their passions, their feelings, their love. Nothing out of the ordinary then about the elegant, tanned woman in a business suit, with her laptop in front of her. A much more unusual view was the blond man reading an old-fashioned letter written in a nervous, black handwriting on creased, worn white paper.
All those people ignoring everything about each other, they could be - in a very near future – travel-mates. Although there was a brunette woman, with shoulder-length hair who had her traveling companion within her, she ignored everything about him - or her - she only knew they were forever... so she thought, caressing her pregnant belly, knowing she would never have to feel lonely again.
Every kind of person, old and young, brilliant and plain, rich and poor, happy and sad. Everyone had their own story to tell, their secrets to hide, their life to live and their death waiting for them.
And every one of them had a flight to take.
* * * * * * * *
Tokyo airport, 10.30 AM
"Attention please, last warning.Flight number 5186 to New York JFK is now boarding at gate number twenty-three..."
"Serena! Hurry, we're gonna lose it," yelled a pretty, blonde girl with a big red ribbon in her very long hair.
"Sumimasen, I'm sorry for the inconvenience." An obviously embarrassed, tall, black-haired man said to the gate attendant in an unsure Japanese.
"PUFF! PANT! Mmhcomiiing! Umpharien, ...'ove, phis...GULP...Japanese...CHOMP... candy...mmh...are...CHOMP... pho goooood. GULP! Here I am, all ready to go home!" She said swallowing her mouthful of candy, then with a satisfied and disarming smile she took her boarding card from the hand of the embarrassed and puzzled attendant.
"I wish you a good flight back to New York..." The attendant said to the three Americans and sighed in relief, watching them disappearing into the boarding tunnel.
* * * * * * * *
Flight 5186, 10.45 AM, economy class.
The engine's roaring increased with each passing minute, the passengers having already buckled their belts. The flight was ready to take off.
"Calm down, Mom, it's going to be OK. There's nothing to be scared of. The odds this flight falls are very, very low, only 2%, you know," said the blue-haired girl to a very pale woman who sat next to her.
"Thank you, dear, now I'll be definitely OK, I'll just have to try not thinking about that 2%..." The woman said sarcastically, holding the armrests with a death grip, while her gaze never left the seat before her.
"Now you're being irrational, I flew several times during these past few years and the plane never crashed." The younger woman said nonchalantly, returning her eyes to the thick book on her lap.
The woman looked at her daughter, incredulous, "And sometimes you're so rational that you don't make any sense, Ami-chan."
"God, how many hours are we gonna spend stuck in this seat? My feet will be the size of watermelons by the time we land!" Said a young, obviously pregnant woman in English.
"How many hours?!" Asked the already scared woman in a heavily accented, very worried English.
"Oh!" The brunette was taken aback by the woman's question, thinking they couldn't understand her, "Well 13, maybe 14."
"GULP!" Was the only sound the woman made, while her daughter sweatdropped, gaping at the girl at the other side of the narrow corridor.
"Actually, we'll land after a flight 12 hours long," a timid voice said from right behind the pregnant woman, but nobody seemed to acknowledge it.
"Hello, I'm Molly by the way, and I'm not alone as you can see." The brunette said as she reached out for a friendly handshake while her other hand pointed to her swollen belly.
"Dr. Mizuno Kimiko, nice to meet you." The blue haired woman shook the proffered hand. "And this is Mizuno Ami, my daughter," She said gesturing at the equally blue-haired, younger woman beside her.
"Nice to meet you, Molly-san." She said in a perfect American English.
Right behind them a young, shy man with thick, rounded glasses leaned back in his seat sighing at being ignored again.
A couple of rows up to the front the 'candy-lover' was clinging to her boyfriend's arm almost painfully, although he kept on smiling stoically.
"Oh, Darien, love, I'm so scared! If something happens, you'll save me, right?" She blinked dreamily, her light blue eyes sparkling.
Darien sweatdropped as he replied. "If the airplane falls down, I don't think there will be anything I can do about it, Meatball-head..."
"Whaaaaa! I don't want to crash down with this airplane! Whaaaaa!" Serena cried out, her eyes watering rapidly. In a moment, her cheeks were streaked by big tears, and almost everyone in their section was looking at them.
"Serena, love, there's no need to be so loud. I promise you I'll be here with you and I won't let anything happen to you. Is that ok?" He reassured her, squeezing her hand.
"Oh, stop it, Serena! You're not scared. As soon as we take off, you will be asleep drooling on Darien's shoulder, like you did flying to Tokyo," said the blonde girl sit at her other side.
"That's not true, Mina! You're mean. I was just tired, and I don't drool!" She turned towards her boyfriend for confirmation but the young man remained silent, blushing furiously. "Whaaaaaa!"
Darien circled his girlfriend's shoulder, trying to calm her again, while glaring at Mina disapprovingly.
Mina shrugged and turned to the boy who sat on the other side of the aisle, smiling apologetically. "She's not that way all the time... well, OK, she is but she's a good girl." And then she noticed the blond boy was definitely good-looking, with green eyes and freckles spread on his straight nose. "Hello, I'm Mina, nice to meet you."
"Hello, I'm Furuhata Motoki, and it's my pleasure." He said in a good English, smiling kindly.
'It'll be a nice journey...' She thought, smiling in return.
A few rows behind, a tall brunette was thinking the exact opposite. A fat, sweaty, gray-haired man had been talking endlessly to her since they had boarded. He was invading her personal space and she started to think it wasn't so involuntarily.
"...'cause business is like dealing with dogs... or chicks, you have to make clear who's in charge, and you have to do it from the start, otherwise you're screwed. I did that with these Japs and I closed my deal soon and neatly. There's no challenge for 'Big Harold' here!" He said to her... chest while his hand slipped dangerously toward her thigh.
She grasped the aforementioned hand and replaced it on the armrest. Her patience was wearing off. Rapidly.
Fortunately, the take-off run started and he was forced still in his seat, but as soon as the plane was horizontal again, again he was onto her. And when he offered to help her with unbuckling her safety-belt and didn't wait for her answer she grabbed his hand and twisted it painfully.
"Ow! Ow! Hey! What are you doing!?" 'Big Harold' turned into 'Big Red Harold' and his face contorted in a grimace of pain.
"You know, I was thinking" she started, maintaining her grip on his hand, "If you – dirty, obtuse, perverted bastard - really are the important businessman you keep telling me you are, why aren't you in the business class? You loser! And, you know, next time you want to talk with me, you better look at my face!" She then let go of his hand, glaring menacingly at the dumbfounded man.
"Excuse me?" A slightly accented voice from her left got her attention. She turned still glaring, and when she realized who it was, her expression softened and she smiled reassuringly at the black haired girl on the other side of the aisle.
"Yes?"
"See, my old grandfather would prefer sitting near the aisle and... you know, and me too, so I was wondering if you would be so kind to switch your seat with him?" The girl said winking knowingly at her.
"What?... Oh! Well... sure!" The brunette said, understanding what was going on.
"Thank you, you're very kind." The traditional clothed girl said, then in Japanese, "Grandpa! You hear that? This nice girl has agreed to let you have the seat you wanted." She had to elbow the already sleeping old man.
"What...!? Rei-chan what are you talking about?" The short, bald man asked sleepily, but his granddaughter was already standing, gesturing him to stand up. He just did what he was asked to do. Slightly confused he watched as a tall brunette took his former seat.
His granddaughter leaned down and kissed his cheek. "Thank you grandpa, you're a real gentleman."
Still not understanding what had just happened, he concluded that he wasn't able to understand young people anymore and just took his place in the opposite row, where the busty brunette had been before. His short and generally little frame let him not be bothered by Harold's encumbrance and in a few seconds he was asleep again.
"Thank you! You're my savior...?"
"Hino Rei, and you're welcome." The black-haired girl said.
"Hi, I'm Lita. But your grandfather won't...?"
"Oh, don't worry," she pointed at him. "See? He's already asleep and he's absolutely capable of staying that way all the way to New York."
Lita turned and just shrugged, happy about her luck, "Thank you again, then."
"Hi, I'm Kumada Yuiichiro, nice to meet you, Lita-san." A young, dark-haired man said in a rather bad English accent, bowing his head to her from Rei's other side.
"Hi!" She waved back to him, smiling.
* * * * * * * *
"Now don't make any trouble, asshole. I'm gonna take a nap." A man with gray-streaked hair said as he took a travel-pillow and placed it behind his head trying to gain a comfortable position.
"And how do you think I can escape? I'm not Houdini." The long haired man sitting beside him said, annoyed, lifting his left hand and doing so dragging the hand he was cuffed to along, just to make a point.
"You can never know," said the other, pulling back. "And I meant not to pull with your hand, by the way. Just sit tight." The other answered, closing his eyes.
His companion glared at him and leaned back on his seat, resigned.
* * * * * * * *
Boarding tunnel - Flight 5186, first class, 10.20 AM.
"I could have used another couple of days at home. It was really rude of Shineda-san, making us move so suddenly, don't you think Michiru-san?" A young man in a very stylish, pale green suit said.
"Well, I don't care where or when I go if I'm in your adorable company, Michiru-chan." Another young man with black curly hair and a very long pony-tail pointed out to the beautiful woman that was walking beside him, winking.
"You'll like New York, Yaten, all those boutiques... And you Seiya, stop being a moron, Michiru-san doesn't need to hear such nonsense." A third, very tall man with the same ridiculously long pony-tail said, "Uh, Michiru-san, are you OK?" He asked when he realized that the young, aqua-haired woman wasn't paying attention to him or any of his brothers.
In fact, Michiru was staring intently ahead, completely oblivious of her three friends. She was looking at the plane entrance where a tall blond stood by the stewardesses, writing something. Michiru didn't know what had gotten her attention exactly but there was something out of the ordinary about that person. He was the same man she had observed before in the hall, arguing at the booking-office. He wore khakis, a white dress shirt and sailing shoes. He had a black, little suitcase and when he turned to make his way into the plane, she had a shot of sunglasses and a intriguing profile.
"Michiru-san?"
"What?! Oh, gomen, Taiki-san, I think I got distracted." She said, waving back her aqua strands in a sexy yet disarming way. "What were you saying?"
"Oh my! So it's true!" An excited voice came from the plane as they approached, involuntarily receiving their attention.
"The Threelights! And that's Kaioh Michiru-sama!" A hostess exclaimed, barely containing herself. "This is our lucky day, first Tenoh-sama and now... This job is worth it, after all!"
That was how the two flight-attendants greeted them at first but then they put on a much more professional demeanor, "Welcome aboard. Please, enjoy your journey on our plane." But she had such a huge smile you'd think it might hurt.
"It's a real pleasure to have you on board," said the other, obviously excited. She held a piece of paper in her hand and handed it shyly to Seiya with dreamy eyes. "Can I... ehm... can I have an autograph, please?"
The young man smiled charmingly at her, took the handed piece of paper and signed it with the pen Taiki held out for him.
"Me too, please?" The other hostess said, handing Michiru another sheet of paper. "I'm a great fan of you." She smiled, blushing, her eyes cast down timidly.
"Of course," Michiru took the offered paper and pen, "What's your name?" She asked the girl sweetly.
"I-It's Saito Yumi."
"Yumi is a very cute name." She said signing a dedication on the paper.
"Th-Thank you, you're so nice." The girl answered, blushing even more, "Elegant, talented and so nice..." These last words weren't intended to be heard and when she realized she had spoken out loud, she buried her face in her hands in embarrassment.
Michiru didn't blush, however, because she rarely did that, but was very pleased about the sincerity and naiveté of the young attendant. She envied those things sometimes.
With a last look at the girls, Michiru walked down the aisle to take her seat ahead of her friends, still signing autographs.
When she reached her assigned seat, she picked up her Luis Vuitton beauty-case to put it in the baggage-box above, but the weight was suddenly lifted from her hands.
"Oh," She was surprised.
"May I help you?" An incredibly husky voice came from behind her. When Michiru turned around she found herself face to face - or rather 'face to chest' - with the mysterious blond. And chest it was indeed!
'Well, now I know what the ambiguity I sensed before was about,' Michiru thought when she realized that that chest was way softer than a man's chest was supposed to be.
"Arigato," She said smiling up at the tall blonde who was still stretched up.
"It's been my pleasure," The blonde replied. She smiled and Michiru couldn't help but think how charming that smile was. She had to keep herself from blushing and giggling like a school-girl with a crush.
'Well, that was something! It's been so long since I felt this way...'
"Michiru-chan, is everything alright?" Seiya was right behind her and glaring at the blonde from over Michiru's shoulder. He circled her waist with his arm and she was suddenly annoyed by his presence.
"Of course," was her cold reply, then softening her voice she addressed the blonde, "Thank you again, I'm Kaioh Michiru. It was very kind of you...?" She lent her hand to the blonde who took it and instead of shaking it bowed down and brushed her lips against the back of it.
"Enchanted, Kaioh-san. I'm Tenoh Haruka."
"It's my pleasure, Tenoh-san." She bowed.
"Ehm..." Seiya cleared his throat, he was getting upset at the blonde's boldness. He knew who she was, had seen her on the cover of some magazines, and he didn't like it, not at all. "We better take our seats, we could be in the way." And he pulled Michiru back to where Yaten and Taiki were.
"Good bye," Michiru managed to say to the blonde before she was pulled away.
"Good bye," Was the whispered reply.
* * * * * * * *
Flight 5186, 25.000 feet of altitude, 01.43 PM, first class.
'Beautiful...' That had been the only word on her mind for the past three hours.
"Beautiful!"
Haruka snapped out of her reverie. Someone had voiced out her thoughts. She turned to her left where the voice had come from. There was a little girl, six or seven years old, stretching up and trying to take a look out of the small window. They were above a big bank of clouds and the sun was shining brightly on the soft, white surface. The black haired girl was looking in awe at those fluffy shapes bathed in the morning sun.
"It looks like whipped-cream!" She was stretching up trying to look past the white-haired man sitting next to her. He was leaning forward writing on a note-book and mumbling from time to time. The little girl never said anything to him and he seemed not to notice her.
'Or care,' Haruka thought bitterly.
"Hey, you can look this way, it's just as beautiful." She said leaning back so the short kid could have a view of her window.
"Oh, arigato."
The girl had purple eyes that shone in the sun, her black hair ended just above her shoulders and framed her very pale and pretty features. An amazed smile added brightness to her face.
Haruka found herself smiling in return, there was something endearing about that kid, maybe it was the sweet smile or those big eyes but Haruka found herself wondering how, what she presumed was her father, could be engrossed in anything other than that lovely child.
"It looks like snow, too, doesn't it?"
"Well, yes. And I guess it would be as wet and cold as snow is," Haruka commented and soon the little girl's eyes shifted from the window to her.
"Really?" she asked, incredulous, her eyes growing bigger with curiosity.
"Mhh... I think it is, I never touched a cloud, actually." Haruka answered, suddenly feeling self conscious under the young girl's serious look.
"I've never touched the snow, either. I'm not allowed to go out when it's snowing." The girl said, and Haruka had a glimpse of sadness so out of place in those eyes that were just too young.
While Haruka was still thinking, the little girl gasped and turned, looking behind them.
"That strange woman is watching you." She commented.
"Who?" Haruka leaned up to look over the headrest of her large first-class seat. In the distance there was a woman with long, dark green hair, a tanned, beautiful face and piercing garnet eyes. Their look met for a moment before the plane had a vigorous shrug and Haruka was thrown back in her seat.
"Whoa!" She said. The little girl looked a little bit scared. "Don't worry, it's normal, just a turbulence." She smiled reassuringly.
After a couple of minutes, the plane shook again harder. The frame started to tremble and they heard a 'ding', then the 'belt sign' went on.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we're going through some rough air space and will be experiencing a few minutes of turbulence. Please return to your seats and fasten your seat-belts. "The speaker above their head said.
Haruka looked surprised at the seemingly unaware man beside the little girl, then leaned toward her to help her fasten her seat-belt.
"All right, now sit tight, Hime-chan, it will be alright." She hurriedly fastened her own belt.
The stewardesses walked along the aisle making sure everybody was sitting with their belts fastened.
"Excuse me, sir. You have to close your writing-table and fasten your seat-belt, please." A young attendant with brown pigtails said to the white-haired man. He seemed to stop for an instant but never looked at her, then he just mumbled and kept on scribbling nervously.
"Sir, please. We are in turbulence," She said stumbling to maintain her equilibrium while the plane shook again.
"Papa? Please, you have to close that and fasten your belt." The little girl said softly but firmly and suddenly she seemed way, way older than she looked. She put her hand on her father's and managed to close the table, then she took the belt ends and held them to him. He finally seemed to acknowledge her, took the belt and fastened it. The only one eye that could be seen behind his thick and strange glasses looked blankly into space. A shiver ran down Haruka's spine at the view.
Suddenly, the plane hit some rougher turbulence and the people who hadn't fastened their belts were thrown out of their seats, hitting the ceiling. Screams and loud 'thuds' could be heard, objects fell from luggage-boxes, and someone began whining in pain, others in panic. The turbulence continued and the alarms blared, then the overhead oxygen masks fell from their compartments.
Haruka took her mask and breathed deeply. When she turned to the little girl to make sure she wasn't too scared she realized the mask was too high for her to reach it and her father was still staring into space, apparently unaware of what was going on around him.
The blonde leaned out to help the little girl but her belt held her in place preventing her from grabbing the elusive mask. She looked at the terrified girl and decided to unfasten her belt to help her, but when she was about to do it she heard a loud groan of metal and a screech. Then the loud rumble of air entering the plane was accompanied by the intense sensation of being sucked back. She looked powerless at the little girl screaming though she could only see her open mouth, because any sound was engulfed by the horrible roaring from the hind part of the plane.
Haruka saw a man flying to the back of the plane, she lowered her head hiding it behind the seat in front of her to prevent herself from being hit by flying objects. Then a flash passed through her mind and she found herself raising her head again, looking a few rows ahead. The last thing she saw was a glimpse of aqua hair waving behind a headrest.
End Prologue.
To be continued...
Many thanks to my beta reader: T-R-Us